After playing its first six matches on the road, the Illinois State womens tennis team plays its first home matches of the season Friday night against DePaul and Sunday afternoon with Saint Louis.
The Redbirds, 3-3, are flying high after knocking off No. 57 Purdue last weekend in West Lafayette.
Even with that momentum, head coach Chris Hoover anticipates a tight match between his Redbirds, ranked 15th in the Midwest Region, and DePaul, the 13th team in the region.
We gained a little momentum and we need to keep it up, Hoover said. DePaul is tough and we will have our work cut out for us. I believe we can win, but its imperative for us to win the doubles point against them.
In last years meeting, DePaul defeated Illinois State 8-1 in Chicago. In the last meeting with Saint Louis two years ago, the Birds swept the Billikens, 9-0.
We cant let up against Saint Louis on Sunday, Hoover said. Everyones got a nagging injury of some of sort theyll have to play through.
Play begins at 8:00 p.m. Friday evening and 2:00 Sunday afternoon at the Evergreen Racquet Club.
