Illinois State dominated the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championship once again, bringing home four of ten titles. No other conference school claimed more than two titles.
In singles, ISUs Liina Suurvarik, 2001 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, remains unstoppable. In Flight One, she defeated Southerns Erika Ochoa (6-1, 6-3), making first place in Flight One hers for the second year in a row. Also bringing home a singles championship for the second year in a row, Shelby Lipson, defending champion in Flight Six defeated Creightons Shannon Whelan (6-1, 6-0) to remain the champion.
ISUs Alana Hoffman was unable to stop Evansvilles Jessica Jetton, who won (3-6, 7-5, 6-0) in the race to claim the Flight Three title, and brought home second.
Not far behind, ISUs Tatyana Ugorich defeated Southerns Kari Stark (6-1, 6-1) to take third place in Flight Four.
Ending the tournament on the right foot, both Alesia Mikalayeva and Laura Gravino won their final matches to claim the fifth place title in Flights Two and Five, respectively. Mikalayeva defeated Indiana States Jen Earl (6-0, 6-3), and Laura Gravino put away Evansvilles Jessica Tessier (6-1, 6-2).
In doubles, the Redbirds stepped up and took two of three titles.
Teammates Suurvarik and Mikalayeva continued the winning streak they started last weekend, defeating Southerns Blanco/Ochoa (8-0) to claim the Flight One title. ISUs Lipson/Ugorich also brought home a first place title in Flight Three, defeating Drakes Fenimore/Mainil (8-6) in the final round.
ISUs team of Hoffman/Gravino was unable to come up with a win today. The pair was defeated by Creightons Bala/Senders in the final round, and claimed an eighth place finish in Flight Two.
Although Coach Hoover feels that the team is not yet playing the best tennis that they are capable of playing, he is pleased that they came through to win titles this weekend.
All things considered, said Hoover, we didnt do too bad. I think were still the team to beat in the MVC, and Im extremely pleased with the way Suurvarik stepped up and found her game.
The next conquest for the Redbirds will be the ITA Midwest Regionals in Madison, WI, which run October 25-29.
