April 16, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State women's tennis team will conclude its last Missouri Valley Conference match-ups of the 2010 spring season in Iowa this weekend. The Redbirds will square off against Northern Iowa on Saturday at 12 p.m. at the Black Hawk Tennis Club and Drake on Sunday at 10 a.m., at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center. Illinois State enters this weekend with a 14-5 overall record and a 4-1 Valley record.
Sophomore Hannah Esker has remained perfect in conference play and is undefeated at the No. 6 singles position. Esker has a current singles record of 20-6 overall and 15-3 in the spring with a 5-0 conference mark.
"We're right where we wanted to be," head coach Chris Hoover said. "We would have liked to play Wichita State a little closer because they are the only team undefeated in the conference right now. Every conference match is important and we want to win all of them if we can."
Illinois State has had the home court advantage since the start of conference play taking defeats over Bradley, Evansville, Creighton and Southern Illinois. The only conference loss ISU has had was against Wichita State last weekend, 5-2.
"I think we're starting to play," Hoover said. "We put a lot of emphasis on these conference matches and need to be able to respond to that to keep our confidence up. This weekend will be hard competition and everyone on the team is looking forward to these last two MVC matches."
Northern Iowa enters the weekend with a 10-8 record. The Panthers are 3-2 in MVC with defeats over Evansville, Creighton, and Drake.
Drake holds a 10-8 record on the year. Having lost their last three matches, the Bulldogs are 1-4 in MVC. Drake's only victory in conference play was over Creighton, 4-3.
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