March 19, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
Match Notes 
The Redbird duo of Hannah Esker and Carmen Peters will try to extend their doubles winning streak to seven as the Illinois State women's tennis team plays Illinois-Chicago and Saint Louis this weekend. Illinois State will host Illinois-Chicago Saturday (March 21) at 2 p.m. at Evergreen Racquet Club, then travel to Saint Louis to face the Billikens on Sunday (March 22). The match against Saint Louis is weather permitting.
"Both of these matches will be good for the team," said head coach Chris Hoover. "We are starting to build some momentum. So, the key is to just keep playing as much as we can. I think these matches will really prepare us for next week when we start conference play."
Esker and Peters have a dual doubles record of 7-3, and they went 3-0 on the spring break trip to New Orleans (March 8-10). Esker has also won three-straight singles matches, going a combined 6-0 in New Orleans.
Tanja Hrovatic, Julia Zubkova and Esker all lead the Redbirds with dual overall singles records of 8-4.
Illinois State is now 6-6 overall this season, and it is coming off a 1-2 spring break trip to New Orleans. The Redbirds lost to Tulane, 5-2, and Louisiana-Lafayette, 4-3. The Redbirds ended their trip with a victory, besting New Orleans, 6-1.
UIC is 4-5 overall and are coming off a 4-3 loss to Iowa State March 7. The Flames will face Bowling Green (March 20) before facing Illinois State (March 21).
Illinois State leads the all-time series, 8-2, over Illinois-Chicago. The last time these two teams met was on March 8, 2008, where the Redbirds fell 4-3 to the Flames in Chicago.
Saint Louis started its spring season with five-straight losses. However, SLU have been able to improve their record to 4-8 overall this season. The Billiken's last match was against Coastal Carolina where SLU lost, 4-3.
Illinois State leads the all-time series against Saint Louis, 12-1. The last time the two teams met was on March 27, 2008, when Illinois State topped Saint Louis, 4-3, at Evergreen Racquet Club.
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