Feb. 24, 2011
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State women's tennis team is set to host Butler and Eastern Illinois Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25-26, at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill.
In their first home match of the season last weekend, the Redbirds (1-3) swept IUPUI, 7-0, bringing their home record to 1-0. Entering Friday's match against Butler (1-3), juniors Aniko Kiss, Hannah Esker and sophomore Ariane Maack have previous experience against the Bulldogs, after leading ISU to a 5-2 win in the 2010 season, which increased the `Birds lead in the series between the two teams to 12-0.
Saturday's match against Eastern Illinois (2-2) brings other elements of familiarity to Kiss, Esker and Maack, after the Redbirds downed the Panthers, 7-0, last year.
Although the past has yielded positive results for the Redbirds, head coach Chris Hoover thinks the weekend will be full of tough competition.
"Eastern Illinois and Butler are going to put up a good fight against us," Hoover said. "We've had great success against both teams in the past, but we still need to work as hard as ever and keep going in order to get the wins."
After last weekend's win against IUPUI, Hoover is looking for a few `Birds in particular to step up.
"We saw some great tennis from a few people in particular last weekend," Hoover said. "Phyllis Tigges, Carolina Abello, Gabby Phillips and Hannah (Esker) really showed what they're made of against IUPUI. We're looking for that same kind of intensity and passion this weekend."
Illinois State will take on Butler Friday at 7 p.m. CST and Eastern Illinois Saturday at 1 p.m. CST.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, TRC gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
