March 25, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State women's tennis sophomore Julia Zubkova was named Missouri Valley Conference Athlete of the Week as announced by the league office Tuesday. Zubkova propelled the Redbirds to their first conference win, as they topped the Bluejays, 7-0 Friday, March 21 at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill.
Zubkova defeated Creighton's Lauren Mastro 6-2, 6-3, at No. 2 singles and partnered with Carolyne Parent to top Mastro and Lindsey Erickson, 8-3 at the No. 2 doubles spot. With the singles victory the Estonia native earned her fifth-consecutive win and holds a 17-6 mark in singles.
Head coach Chris Hoover is excited and proud of Zubkova's performance.
"This is well deserved," said Hoover. "She won four of five matches over spring break and continues to do well. Julia has been working on going out and dictating each match she competes in. She is a great player and will compete against great players so it's important for her to go into each match and make it hers. She definitely has gotten better at dictating and closing out matches and I think her record proves her success."
The Redbirds will host Saint Louis Thursday, March 27. The match is set to begin at 1 p.m. on The Gregory Street Tennis Courts, unless weather forces the match indoors to Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill.
