Feb. 5, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's tennis team will travel to West Lafayette, Ind., this weekend for a pair of matches. Illinois State takes on Purdue Friday at 5:00 p.m. ET, and Arkansas on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET, at the Schwartz Tennis Center. Head coach Cris James and the Redbirds see this weekend as an exciting part of their spring schedule, while James returns to his alma mater looking for victory.
"We will be facing schools with strong tennis traditions," said James. "They will be tough matches for us to win; both schools have a long history, especially in doubles. If we play well against Purdue, I think we'll go into the Arkansas match with a little more confidence. We've played our last few matches with high energy and good mental toughness. It should help us going into this weekend.
"We are all looking forward to the match-ups. It's fun for me as well, going back to my alma mater. This is my first time going back as a head coach and seeing some of the players I helped coach while I was at Purdue."
The Redbirds saw Purdue during fall competition at the Ball State Invitational, where sophomores Filip Miljevic and Timon Reichelt defeated Griffin Neinberg and Patrick Rose, 8-4, to win the Flight B doubles' title. Freshman Skip Span finished second in Flight B singles after losing to Paul Foley in a three-set match, 5-7, 7-6(4), 1-0(5).
The Boilermakers are 1-2 on the season, with a pair of 4-3 losses to DePaul and Western Michigan. The sole win for Purdue was 6-1, over Butler.
The last time ISU competed against the Razorbacks was briefly at the ITA Central Regional Championships in the back bracket of singles competition. Arkansas is 0-2 on the season after falling to Virginia (7-0) and Wisconsin (4-3) at the ITA National Indoor Invite Jan. 30-31.
