April 18, 2010
Final Stats
DES MOINES, Iowa. -
The Illinois State women's tennis team concluded its regular season on Sunday with a sweep over Drake, 7-0, at the Black Hawk Tennis Center. With the win, the Redbirds improved to a 16-5 overall spring record and are 6-1 in Missouri Valley Conference. Head coach Chris Hoover was happy to end the regular season with a win.
"We played well (Sunday) there is no doubt," Hoover said. "I felt top to bottom it's the best we've played in a long time. It's a good way to close out the regular season and a little momentum to go into the tournament with."
Illinois State had an early lead by claiming the doubles point. Hannah Esker and Carmen Peters won their 15th doubles victory of the season with an 8-1 defeat over Jessica Labarte and Earlynn Laur at the No. 3 position. Sealing the doubles point for the Redbirds was Natalia Lech and Ariane Maack with an 8-4 victory at the No. 2 court over Jessica Aguilera and Amanda Aragon.
In singles, Esker cruised past Laur, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 6 position to give Illinois State a 2-0 lead. Following Esker was Franziska Steinhardt who bested Gabriela Demos 6-1, 6-0, at the No. 2 court. Clinching the win for the Redbirds was Maack who bested Aragon, 6-1, 6-1, at the No. 5 position. Lech claimed the seventh point for ISU with a 6-4, 6-1, win over Labarte at the No. 4 court.
"We still have stuff to work on and need to take one team at a time so we don't get ahead of ourselves," Hoover said. "This is where we should be and I think the group is starting to believe they can do it. We're looking forward to the tournament next weekend."
Illinois State will head to Wichita, Kan., April 23-25 for the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships where the team will face Creighton in its first match of the weekend. Time TBD.
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