Jan. 20, 2011
State Farm MVC Individual Championships Preview with Cris James
NORMAL, Ill. -
After taking home three titles at the tournament last year, the Illinois State men's tennis team is looking to make a statement in its first conference action of the season this weekend at the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.
In last year's championships, seniors Filip Miljevic, Timon Reichelt, and Matej Zlatkovic all took home individual titles. Miljevic placed first in the No. 1 singles position, while Reichelt and Zlatkovic teamed up to place first in No. 2 doubles.
Head coach Cris James is hopeful that his team will be able to build of last season's success.
"We're hopeful that we can go in and dominate this tournament," James said. "Of course there will be tough competition that will push our guys, but I think our team is rounding into form and we have a good chance to do some damage this weekend."
The singles lineup features Reichelt in the first flight and sophomore Alexander Pelaez in the second. Zlatkovic and Miljevic will compete in flights three and four, respectively. Rounding out the lineup will be freshmen Tuomas Manner in the fifth flight, Mya-Smith Dennis in the sixth flight, and Juan Varon in the seventh flight.
The doubles lineup features the tandem of No. 48 nationally-ranked Reichelt and Pelaez in the first flight, Zlatkovic and Manner in the second flight, and Miljevic and Smith-Dennis in the third flight. Junior Skip Span will not be competing this weekend due to injury.
Each flight features two pools of three competitors. Competitors from each pool will square off against each other, with the top two from each pool advancing to the semifinals.
James is very fond of this tournament, and sees it as a potential confidence builder for his squad.
"This is a great tournament because we get to see how we stack up against the other schools in our conference," James said. "We get to play a lot of matches this weekend, and I'm looking for our guys to really go out and compete hard, and take their matches point by point. We have a good team with potential to do some good things this year, and this tournament could give us a lot of confidence if we're successful."
Matches begin Friday, Jan. 21, at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center in Des Moines, Iowa. First serve is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. CST.
¬¬¬¬
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
