Liina Suurvarik will lead the Illinois State womens tennis team in a three meet match against conference foes this weekend at the McCormick Tennis Courts, starting with Northern Iowa, Friday at 3 p.m.
Suurvarik, who has 76 career doubles victories, needs just two more victories to put her second atop the Redbirds all-time career list for doubles victories, which will be 9 behind her playing partner Alesia Mikalayeva.
In addition to taking on Northern Iowa, the Birds will face Drake, Saturday at 1 p.m., and Creighton, Sunday at 10 a.m. The Redbirds are currently first in the Valley with a 3-0 record and 9-7 overall.
Head coach Chris Hoover knows the Birds are going to face some challenges to stay undefeated in the Valley.
We need to keep playing hard if we want to control our own destiny, Hoover said. Drake will give us some challenges in spots, and Creighton always plays us tough.
Northern Iowa, who are led by new head coach Sachin Kirtane, are currently 0-4 in the Valley and 1-5 overall. Last year the Birds pulled out a close match dropping Northern Iowa 4-3, when Laura Gravino pulled out the deciding victory over Jaimie Noyce, 6-1, 6-1.
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