Sept. 26, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's tennis team will continue their fall schedule this weekend at the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships. The competition will run from Friday, Sept. 28 through Sunday, Sept. 30 and is being hosted by Creighton in Omaha, Neb. The `Birds will be facing competition from around the Valley.
Last week, the Redbirds were successful in their season opening-weekend at the Bradley Invitational. They reached the championship in all five of the singles draws and captured four of the titles. In doubles they brought home titles in two of the three draws.
Head coach Cris James hopes to see the team build on last weekend's success.
"Hopefully we will be able to come away with a of couple titles again," said James. "This weekend will be an opportunity for us to send the message that we are serious about competing for the conference title this year."
While competing for wins, James also hopes that the team focuses on improvement as well.
"I really use the fall as an evaluating period. Last week went well so I expect to see some more confidence out there on the courts. It's really important to me that the guys focus on getting better and improving their games."
The Redbirds come into the weekend with a nearly unblemished record in singles. Seniors Oscar Beich and Luka Marinkovic, and sophomores Michael Hobson and Xavier Riart-Ferrer all went undefeated on their way to capturing singles titles at the Bradley invitational. Junior Nuno Jacinto looks to bounce back from his tough three set loss in the championship last weekend.
In doubles the `Birds put up some strong numbers as well. The duos of Beich/ Marinkovic and Jacinto/ Riart-Ferrer both rolled unscathed through their draws on the way to championships. The only doubles loss came when Hobson paired with Jesus Diaz of IUPUI, due to an odd number of Redbird players. The duo went 1-1 on the weekend.
