Oct. 2, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State's men's tennis team will compete this weekend at the Ball State Invitational in Muncie, Ind.
Competition will run Friday, Oct. 3 through Sunday, Oct. 5. The matches will take place at three different locations: Cardinal Creek Tennis Center, Lucina Courts and Yorktown High School.
The tournament will host 17 teams including Ball State, Butler, Cleveland State, Duquesne, Detroit, Dayton, Eastern Illinois, Indiana State, Illinois State, IPFW, IUPUI, Purdue, Marquette, Northern Illinois, Valparaiso, Xavier and Wright State.
Competition consists of four flights of singles and doubles draws, and consolation play for first round losers in both the doubles and singles flights.
For the first time this season, head coach Cris James is taking his entire team on the road for a fall tournament.
"I'm relying more on the players to prepare for competition since I will be dividing my time among all the players," said James. "During practice, the guys have been focusing on what they need to improve on from previous tournaments. I am hoping we can apply what has been learned in practice to this weekend's competition."
James hopes the Redbirds will gain wins, as well as continue to improve.
"I am always focused on improvement," said James. "I would like us to start from where we left off from the previous tournaments and not take a step backwards. I would really like to see guys advance deep into the main draw of their flight. The nice thing about this tournament is that it has a good mix of teams in each flight. It's a good feeling to come away with wins."
