April 27, 2007
Final Stats
OMAHA, Neb. -
The Illinois State women's tennis team defeated Drake, 4-2, for the second time this week on Friday in its first-round match of the 2007 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championship at the Koch Family Center in Omaha, Neb. Freshman Julia Zubkova helped ISU advance to the semifinals for the fifth consecutive season by scoring a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Drake's Eve Rusdianto at the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
With the victory, the fourth-seeded Redbirds improve their overall record to 13-8, while fifth-seeded Drake ends its season with a 9-14 mark.
The Redbirds return to action on Saturday at 11 a.m. against the winner of Friday afternoon's contest between top-seeded Wichita State and No. 8 Creighton.
"It always feels really good to get this first win under our belts," head coach Chris Hoover said. "I felt Carolyne (Parent), Julia (Zubkova) and our No. 3 doubles team really stepped up nicely today. We look forward to going out tomorrow and competing at a high level."
Unlike this past Sunday's regular-season finale, the Redbirds jumped ahead of the Bulldogs, 1-0, by claiming the coveted doubles point. At the top spot in the lineup, senior Katri Miller and junior Véronique Parke-Bédard avenged their recent loss to Veronika Leszayova and Alison Wilkie by registering an 8-5 victory. The win was the 18th for the Redbird tandem this season. Drake captured the No. 2 position when Rusdianto and Irina Kalashnikova bested Parent and senior Matea Simovic, 8-1. At the No. 3 spot, ISU took care of business when Zubkova and sophomore Megan Rozboril beat Kari Sloboth and Sarah Plowman, 8-4, to clinch the point.
As the match moved to singles action, Parke-Bédard secured ISU's second point by upending Kalashnikova in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, at the No. 3 spot in the lineup. This marked the second time in the Pont-Rouge, Québec, native's career she has reached the 20-win plateau.
Drake cut the Redbirds' lead to 3-2 by registering wins at the No. 1 and No. 6 positions. At the top spot, Leszayova outlasted Miller in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, while Simovic was swept, 6-1, 6-3, by Sloboth.
Zubkova notched the match-clinching victory with her straight-set win over Rusdianto. The Tallinn, Estonia, native now has 18 victories on the season and six wins over Valley foes during dual-match play.
ISU now turns its attention to either Wichita State or Creighton. On April 14, the Redbirds fell to the Shockers, 7-0, but faired much better against the Bluejays, winning 4-1 in Omaha on Mar. 31.
