DES MOINES, Iowa – For the final tournament of the fall season, the Illinois State women's tennis team will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to compete in the Drake Jamboree, Oct. 23-25.
"We will face tough competition and a physically demanding schedule this weekend," head coach Maja Kovacek said. "It's a great opportunity for us to see how far we've come this fall and hopefully see some improvements we've made."
This is the team's first appearance at the Drake Jamboree. The three-day event will feature players from Drake, Illinois State, Iowa, Iowa State and Kansas State.
The Redbirds will play two doubles and two singles rounds on the opening day of the tournament, and on Saturday and Sunday, ISU will play a singles and a doubles round each day.
ISU has had a successful fall season thus far, winning three championships bracket titles at the season opening Bradley Invitational and bringing home three championship titles the following weekend at the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships. Notables coming into this weekend's tournament are senior Kadi Ilves, junior Marcia Tere-Apisah and sophomore Valerija Gercar.
Ilves enters the Drake Jamboree with a 4-1 overall singles record. At the Bradley Invitational, she went undefeated winning the B Flight Championship. Gercar heads into the weekend with a 5-1 overall singles record. In the past two tournaments Gercar has won two championship titles.
Ilves and Tere-Apisah remain undefeated with a 6-0 doubles record. Their most recent victory is against Maddie Johnson and Adrienne Jensen of Drake in the doubles finals at the MVC individual championships.
Competition gets underway at 10 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. The Drake Jamboree will be held both indoors and outdoors at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center in Des Moines, Iowa. For updates on ISU Women's Tennis throughout the weekend, follow them on Twitter: @RedbirdWTEN.
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