Sept. 20, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
Redbird men's tennis head coach Cris James will begin his tenure this weekend when ISU takes part in the Bradley Invitational. The seven-team event is set to begin at 2 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 21 and conclude on Sunday, Sept. 23.
James is enthusiastic for what he might see this weekend in Peoria.
"I'm optimistic for sure," James said. "It will be exciting to get a chance to see what these guys can do in a match situation. It will be a great opportunity for me to evaluate since I have only seen them in practice. I will have a much better idea after this weekend of what kind of team we have."
What the `Birds had last year was good enough for a 13-8 record, including a 5-1 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference. With James at the helm, the goal is to bring back the MVC title that ISU won in 2006 and narrowly missed out on last season with a second place finish.
The Redbirds are looking to get this season started off on the right foot and for James, that means more wins.
"Based on past results, we should be one of the strongest teams this weekend. I'm hoping that we show that," said James. "More importantly though, I'm looking at this as a development opportunity. I want to see the guys focus on the techniques we worked on in practice and implement them into their matches."
All six members of the Redbirds tennis squad have experience from last season. Leading the group will be seniors Luka Marinkovic (55-26 career singles, 59-20 career doubles) and Oscar Beich (46-30, 39-28). Also returning are juniors Daniel Tobar (19-8, 37-10) and Nuno Jacinto (29-19, 22-22), along with sophomores Michael Hobson (5-3, 4-1) and Xavier Riart-Ferrer (5-3, 2-2).
