Sept. 22, 2005
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Redbirds are on the road again for their third tournament, the Milwaukee Classic in Wisconsin. Marquette will host the tournament, which will begin Friday and end on Sunday.
Hoover and the team are looking forward to the tournament because of the mock dual matches.
"The fun thing about this tournament is they are going to be mock duals," said Hoover. "With that, I can adjust the lineup and see how my players play in different positions, and that will benefit us in preparing for the individual championships."
The recent Saint Louis Tournament brought some good successes; and also helped the team see what weaknesses it needs to work on. The `Birds want to start stringing their days together to get as many matches as possible for each player on the team. Hoover believes this tournament will help the team improve.
"We just want to get in as many matches as possible, and get more consistency in our play," said Hoover. "This weekend we want to play well all three days instead of having on and off days."
The Milwaukee Classic is a new tournament for the Redbirds. It was an extra addition to prepare them for the next weekend's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Individuals. Hoover wanted an extra tournament to instill more competitiveness in the team.
"Everything is building to the Valley Individual Championship tournament." said Hoover.
The `Birds are entering the Milwaukee Classic hungry to win matches and to prove to everyone that they are still the team to beat.
The team will begin the tournament at 9a.m. on Friday with doubles against Marquette. They will then start single matches at 11a.m. against UW- Green Bay. Dayton will also be joining the `Birds in the tournament this weekend.
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