April 26, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
This past weekend, Illinois State clinched the regular season Missouri Valley Conference title with Indiana State and Wichita State, as all three teams finished with a league record of 8-1. A teleconference on Tuesday decided the seedings for the State Farm MVC Team Championships and the Redbirds were given the No. 3 seed. In addition, the MVC Women's Scholar-Athlete Teams were announced with three Redbirds awarded with honorable mentions; Carolyne Parent, Véronique Parke-Bédard and Ashley Maxwell.
Illinois State is seeded No. 3 in the State Farm MVC Championship brackets, while Wichita State was given No. 1 and Indiana State No. 2. As defending MVC champions, the team plans to go for a fourth consecutive championship and prove, like last year, that it deserves higher than the No. 3 seeding.
"We were seeded at No. 3 last year and proved them wrong in winning the whole tournament," said head women's tennis coach Chris Hoover. "We have the toughest bracket starting off. I guarantee the winner of this tournament will be coming out of our half of the bracket, which means we don't have any margin for error if we want to be successful. Every girl has to bring their best tennis and we as a team, have to do the best we can."
Proving they are successful off the court, Parent, Parke-Bédard and Maxwell were named to the Scholar-Athlete honorable mention squad due to their impressive GPA and conference play.
Parke-Bédard, a sophomore, carries the highest GPA on the team with a 3.64 in General Studies and an overall singles record of 7-9, 4-4 in the league. In doubles, the pair of Parke-Bédard and other honoree, Maxwell, own the team's career high in wins with 10-3 overall, 6-2 in conference. As an International Business major and senior at ISU, Maxwell owns 3.47 GPA, and balances her academic career with a 7-3 singles record overall and 6-1 in conference. Sophomore, Parent, holds a 3.45 GPA as a General Studies major and, second to Nicole Schneider, leads the team with the best overall singles record of 14-3, 7-2 in the league.
Hoover is always happy to see his players do well in the classroom.
"I think its great that the girls do well in school which is something we emphasize in our program; to do well academically as well as athletically."
The State Farm MVC Team Championship begins for the Redbirds on Friday, April 28 at noon when the Redbirds take on Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals.
