SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois State Women's Tennis Team will travel south this weekend to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships hosted by Bradley in Springfield, Illinois, Oct. 2-4.
"I am feeling pretty good going into this weekend," head coach Maja Kovacek said. "We got a lot of match play and wins last weekend. I think the players should feel good about their game coming into the tournament. Our main goal for the tournament this weekend is to improve from last weekend and apply some things we will work on this week in practice."
Eight Missouri Valley Conference teams will be competing in this weekend's tournament: Bradley, Drake, Evansville, Illinois State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and Wichita State.
The MVC Individual Championships will feature seven singles flights and three doubles flights. Competing in the singles flights are: Marcia Tere-Apisah in Flight One, Veronika Golanova in Flight Two, Kadi Ilves in Flight Three, Chanel Scudiero in Flight Four, Jana Kustkova in Flight Five, Catherine Shulman in Flight Six and Valerija Gercar in Flight Seven.
Teaming up to play in doubles are: Tere-Apisah and Ilves in Flight One, Golanova and Kustkova in Flight Two and Scudiero and Shulman in Flight Three.
The Redbirds are looking to build off of last weekend's success at the Bradley Invitational. The team earned 24 wins and brought home three championship bracket titles. As a senior standout, Ilves won the B Flight Singles championship and the A Flight Doubles title at the Bradley Invitational. Ilves went undefeated at the tournament, earning a 4-0 singles record and a 3-0 doubles mark to combine for an unblemished 7-0 overall record.
Also having a near-perfect weekend was Tere-Apisah. In her first Tournament as a Redbird, Tere-Apisah won the A Flight Consolation championship and ended the weekend with a 6-1 overall record. Ilves and Tere-Apisah teamed up to finish 3-0 in doubles, winning the A Flight Doubles championship.
"Last weekend was pretty good, but we still have stuff to work on this week in practice," Tere-Apisah said. "Everyone has different things they need to work on this week, but for me I need to work more on my serves and returns. Overall though, I am feeling confident going into this weekend's tournament."
MVC Individual Championship play will begin at 9 a.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This year's tournament will be held at the Velasco Tennis Center in Springfield, Illinois. In the event of inclement weather, the tournament will be moved to the Springfield Racket and Fitness Center. For continuous updates on ISU Women's Tennis, follow them on Twitter: @RedbirdWTEN.
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