March 26, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State women's tennis team is set to continue their spring season with a three-day lineup against Saint Louis, Bradley and Indiana State. The Redbirds (6-7, 1-0 MVC) will begin the lineup with two home matches against Saint Louis, Thursday, March 27 at 1 p.m., and Missouri Valley Conference rival Bradley, on Friday, March 28 at 3 p.m. Both matches will take place at The Gregory Street Tennis Courts, unless weather forces the match indoors to Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill. The Indiana State match will be the Redbirds third conference match of the season Saturday, March 29 at 2 p.m. in Terre Haute, Ind.
The `Birds have won their last two matches and head coach Chris Hoover hopes to take this momentum all the way through the weekend.
"Although we are really focused on the match against Indiana State, that doesn't mean I'm not concerned with Saint Louis or Bradley," said Hoover. "We are really trying to build some momentum so that when we reach the Indiana State match, we enter with the right state of mind."
Saint Louis currently holds an 8-7 season mark, however they are set to play Southern Illinois Wednesday afternoon. Senior Amanda Hellberg leads the team with a 4-6 record, playing at the No. 1 singles spot.
Bradley, who has a 2-5 record, is also set to compete on Wednesday before facing the Redbirds. They have been lead by freshman Nicole Miller who has a 6-1 singles record and a 6-1 doubles mark with partner Emily Regenold. Miller began the spring season with a five-match winning streak in the No. 5 singles position and the No. 2 doubles spot.
Senior Jennifer Migan has been leading the 2-6 Sycamores. Migan holds a 7-1 singles mark and is also No. 49 the in national rankings with doubles partner Joanne Schickerling. The nationally-ranked duo holds a 9-4 mark with a recent six-match winning streak.
Although Hoover has previously mentioned earning the doubles point as key to winning the overall match, he is not worried about the duo of Migan and Schickerling affecting that goal.
"Competing against Migan and Schickerling isn't going to be any different than it has been in the past," said Hoover. "We need two doubles wins to earn the point and if we don't get it at the No. 1, spot then we need to get it at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. I expect the same performance from my student-athletes whether the player is ranked or if the player isn't ranked."
