April 23, 2010
WICHITA, Kan. - Head coach Cris James and the Illinois State men’s tennis team have earned the No. 1 seed entering this weekend’s Missouri Valley Conference Championship in Wichita, Kan. The Redbirds clinched the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed this past Sunday after defeating Drake and turning in a perfect, 5-0 conference record.
“Being the No. 1 seed is great,” James said. “It is something I think we earned with a good regular season. We are happy with the regular-season championship but our goal is to win both the regular season and the tournament and we would love to make the NCAA tournament. I think if we don't take advantage of that opportunity we will surely be disappointed.”
With the No. 1 seed, Illinois State has earned a first-round bye and will face the winner of Friday’s quarterfinals matchup between No. 4 Creighton and No. 5 Southern Illinois.
“We did well against [Creighton and Southern Illinois] during the season, so I like our chances,” James said. “If Southern Illinois gets through it could be a bit of a different match given that they had a couple guys out with injury during our regular-season matchup.”
In conference play, the Redbirds have been nearly flawless. On the singles court, Illinois State holds a 27-3 conference record. All three of those losses came against Wichita State at the No. 2, 5 and 6 courts. Alexander Pelaez, Timon Reichelt, and Matej Zlatkovic are all on seven-match winning streaks in singles. Reichelt has earned back-to-back MVC Athlete of the Week awards and has had several key victories on the No. 1 court for the Redbirds.
“I feel good with how we are playing,” James said. “Believe it or not, we still have not had a match where everyone puts it all together on the same day. If we can do that we'll be tough to beat. Otherwise, for us right now it's just about being mentally tough and competing at a high level. If we have enough guys creating chances to win, we have enough guys that are confident to close it out in the end.”
ISU is attempting capture both the regular-season title and the MVC Championship for the first time in its history. If they can reach the final, the Redbirds will take on Wichita State in a rematch of their closest regular-season conference match in which Illinois State took an intense 4-3 victory.
“If we have a rematch with Wichita State I am sure both teams will be fired up,” James said. “It was a good tough match during the regular season and I am sure it would be again. We will have to play well.”
The Redbirds will take the court against either Creighton or SIU this Saturday at 2 p.m., at the Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex in Wichita, Kan. If they can advance, ISU will play in Sunday’s final at 2 p.m. The winner of the MVC Championship receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament this May in Athens, Ga.
“I think qualifying for the NCAA tournament is a huge deal,” James said. “I don't think our tennis program has done that before so obviously that would feel great to be the first team to accomplish that feat. We will be excited and proud no doubt if we can get it done.”
Complete coverage of the MVC Championship can be found HERE.
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