Sept. 10, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State senior Julia Zubkova, a 2009 Missouri Valley Conference All-Select recipient, will lead the Redbirds into their fall season at home with the Redbird Round-Up at the Gregory Street Tennis Courts this weekend. This will be the first time since 2002 Illinois State has hosted a tournament. The event with begin play each day at 10 a.m. starting Friday with the tournament concluding Sunday.
Hoover believes opening the fall season at home will be a great advantage for the team and will make the student-athletes feel more comfortable playing in a familiar environment.
"We haven't had a home tournament since 2002 when we hosted the MVC Championships," Hoover said. "This should be fun and playing a home invitational will help the team feel more comfortable."
While finishing the 2008-09 season with an overall record of 14-10 and 6-4 in Missouri Valley Conference, the team has prepared itself this past summer by working out, training hard and practicing its doubles play. The women's tennis team has won five MVC titles over the past nine years and has placed in the top-three spot 12 times over the past 15 years.
The 2009-10 women's tennis roster is now complete with 10 players including returning veterans Zubkova, Carmen Peters, Natalia Lech, Maria Occhipinti, Sarah Streitz, Franziska Steinhardt, and Hannah Esker. New to the team are freshmen Stefanie Youngberg, Ariane Maack and Aniko Kiss.
In addition to the host Redbirds, the tournament includes Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Bradley, Morehead State and Butler.
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