Oct. 23, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's tennis team will wrap up its fall schedule this weekend at the ITA Wilson Central Region Championships in Tulsa, Okla. The competition will run from Wednesday, Oct. 24, through Sunday, Oct. 28, and is being hosted by the University of Tulsa. Illinois State is not scheduled to compete until Thursday, Oct. 25.
Head coach Cris James expects the Redbirds to face their strongest competition of the year.
"This tournament will feature the highest level of competition that we have faced yet this fall," said James. "There is the possibility that some of our guys will be facing players who are ranked in the top-20 nationally in the first round."
James says he is looking at this tournament a little differently than others this fall.
"There is still some evaluation going on with a few of our guys, but I am mostly looking to see how they perform," said James. "I want to see the guys prepare themselves the right way and put a lot of effort into these matches. I'm really looking for some consistency in their performances. Hopefully we will have a couple of guys emerge and do some damage in the tournament."
The Redbirds head into the weekend with a 31-14 overall record in singles matches. Senior Luka Marinkovic is leading the team with seven victories in singles play.
In doubles, the `Birds have been outstanding, recording a 17-3 mark. The pair of junior Nuno Jacinto and sophomore Xavier Riart-Ferrer own a team best 6-1 record. Also playing well this fall is the pair of Marinkovic and junior Daniel Tobar and the duo of senior Oscar Beich and sophomore Michael Hobson, who each have identical 4-1 records.
"I'm hoping that we are able to make a little noise in doubles," said James. "I would love to see Luka and Daniel get into that tournament and do something."
Earlier this season, Marinkovic and Tobar knocked off the No. 35 nationally ranked doubles team of Maor Zirkin and Dalibor Pavic from Drake.
The `Birds were off last weekend, after participating in the Louisville Invitational the previous weekend, Oct. 12 through Oct. 14.
