Jan. 21, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's tennis team will be traveling to Des Moines, Iowa for the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Individual Championships, which will begin Friday (Jan. 22) at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center. Junior Filip Miljevic will lead the Redbirds as they face off against five other MVC opponents during the three-day tournament.
"We will be playing a lot of tennis at this tournament and that means a lot of opportunities to get better," head coach Cris James said. "I am hoping we will compete at a higher level this weekend. That is something that was missing during our match against Nebraska. We will look to battle for every point in every match."
The Redbirds opened their season Jan. 16 against Nebraska where they were defeated, 7-0. Despite the loss, James saw his players compete against a very good Nebraska team.
"Last weekend we showed we were capable and ready to play against the best players out there," James said. "If we can fight for every point and not dwell on our problems during the match, but work to solve those problems, I think we will play at the level we are capable of. Overall I believe we are ready to go into this tournament and win matches."
Freshman Alexander Pelaez, who is 5-5 in the 2009-10 season, is looking to have a breakout performance at the Championships. The Cuban native is getting his first real taste of indoor tennis this season.
"Alex still has not tapped into his full potential, especially on the singles court," James said. "He has had to adjust to several different things, including playing indoors, which is something he has never done before. At this point he has done a great job and I know he's going to play at a higher level soon."
The first matches are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., Friday and will follow with 9 a.m. starts on both Saturday and Sunday.
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