Oct. 2, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
Four Illinois State men's tennis players will travel to Tulsa, Okla. to compete in the pre-qualifying rounds of the ITA All-American Championships this weekend. Juniors Timon Reichelt and Filip Miljevic head into the competition looking to continue their impressive tournament play. Head coach Cris James believes his team is ready to compete at a national level against tough competition.
"We are capable of playing at a national level," James said. "We just need to go out there and do it. The learning experiences are over for now. These guys are ready to play against the good competition that will be at this tournament."
The tournament includes six rounds of pre-qualifying and qualifying play scheduled to begin on Saturday. 256 players will compete in the pre-qualifying round for 16 available positions to advance to the qualifying round.
"The tournament is the first of three large national tournaments," James said. "The prequalifying rounds are open to any collegiate player so it will draw some very tough competition. Hopefully we are able to go out there and advance to the qualifying and main draw tournaments."
Skip Span and Matej Zlatkovic are the other two players representing Illinois State. Span will be playing with Miljevic on the doubles court in the qualifying tournament which will consist of one 8-game set.
"Both Skip and Filip have improved their doubles play," James said. "In this tournament, doubles will be all about momentum. The format opens up the door for all the teams and will allow anyone to beat tough competition."
Teams from all over the country will travel to the University of Tulsa to play in the first national tournament of the 2009-10 season. The competition will be played at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa. The Qualifying tournament begins on Monday and the Main Draw tournament begins on Thursday.
"The guys who are going have had stretches of great tennis recently," James said. "If we can put together some full games, and not just play stretches of good tennis, we have a great shot to advance."
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