April 16, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. - Seniors Michael Hobson and Xavier Riart-Ferrer and the Illinois State men's tennis team will conclude the regular season this weekend with two home matches against Missouri Valley Conference foes Creighton and Drake. The first-place Redbirds look to clinch a MVC regular-season title for the first time since 2006.
"These two matches will be a nice way for Xavy and Mike to go out," head coach Cris James. "Hopefully we can go out this weekend and win a conference championship."
Hobson currently has 39 career victories in both singles and doubles. Earlier this season, Hobson won the MVC Individual Championships Flight 7 title. Riart-Ferrer has 51 singles wins and 29 doubles victories.
Illinois State is riding a four-match winning streak that includes three consecutive MVC wins. In the `Birds last match against Wichita State, Matej Zlatkovic scored the fourth and final point at the No. 4 singles court to give ISU a narrow, 4-3, victory.
Creighton (10-4, 1-2 MVC) is coming off a close 4-3 victory at Southern Illinois. It was the first conference win for the Jays, who currently sit in fourth place in the Valley. They have had solid play at the No. 1 spot from J.T. Christian, who has a team-leading 15-4 record.
"Creighton has won a ton of matches this year," James said. "Anytime you play a team like that they have a lot of confidence, which can be dangerous for us."
Drake (13-7, 2-1 MVC) has won its last three matches, including a win at Bradley last Saturday. The Bulldogs look to improve their conference standing as they currently sit in second place in the MVC. Drake is lead by junior Mauricio Ballivian, who has a team-leading 27-9 record this season.
"I'm excited and optimistic about these two matches, but I'm also nervous," James said. "We aren't going to get any better at this point in the season. The question is can we be mentally ready to play and can we stay focused and face any adversity that comes our way. We have a great opportunity in front of us, so hopefully we can win two matches this weekend."
The Redbirds will host Creighton Saturday at the Gregory Street Tennis Courts starting at 1 p.m. ISU will square off with the Drake Bulldogs for Senior Day on Sunday, beginning at 10 a.m. Live match stats can be found by following the link below.
LIVE STATS
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