Feb. 23, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's tennis team (3-6) will face Northern Illinois (2-4) at noon on Saturday, February 25, at the Clock Tower Racquet Club, in DeKalb. The Redbirds will attempt to bounce back from their 7-0 loss last weekend, while the Huskies look to extend their two-game win streak.
Last fall, ISU had a chance to see what kind of competition Northern Illinois had to offer in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic. During the face off, the `Birds took five of seven singles matches and managed to take two of three doubles matches against the Huskies. Illinois State went on to win the tournament.
NIU also competed in the Ball State Invitational along with ISU last fall. Northern Illinois's David Katz and Diego Zagarra-Ballon took home titles, while ISU's Djordje Uskokovic, Yohann Nograbat, Tim Link and Oscar Beich won titles as well.
Head coach Greg Kennett would like to see his team take the Huskies on the same way they did last fall.
"Hopefully this weekend will be very similar to our results in the fall," said Kennett. "Northern is a good team and talented all the way down the lineup, so I think it will be a good match. Their doubles lineup is similar to ours, which will make the doubles point an important part of the match. It's also imperative to start a win streak with this match."
Last weekend, Illinois State won its first doubles point in five matches against Chicago State. The `Birds ended the weekend by surrendering their sixth doubles point and lost to No. 70 Western Michigan.
Kennett will likely make minor adjustments to his doubles lineup.
"Yohann is hurt a little bit and he is having a hard time competing in both singles and doubles. We may change the doubles lineup because Yohann's condition," said Kennett. "However, I am pleased with how Oscar has played in doubles lately. Since we are moving players around, Oscar may take over Yohann's spot in the doubles lineup."
ISU has been training in different scenarios this past week to ease the stress of high pressure situations.
"This past week we practiced and worked on different pressure situations and put the guys in mock game situation," said Kennett. "This way the guys are feeling the pressure and the consequences for not winning. We were also working on not making errors during these pressure situations."
Illinois State will look to jump start a winning streak this weekend as the team attempts to win their first road match of the spring season.
