NORMAL, Ill. – After finishing 4-3 and tied for third in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, the No. 4 seeded Illinois State women's tennis team (13-10) will travel to Wichita State for the MVC Team Championships April 29 – May 1 where the Redbirds will face Bradley in Friday's quarterfinal round at 11:30 a.m.
Bradley enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed, finishing the regular-season with a 12-12 overall record and a 3-4 mark in the MVC. The Braves earned MVC victories over Evansville, Missouri State and Northern Iowa. ISU has faced Bradley in the MVC tournament three times, with the Redbirds coming away with all three victories.
The Redbirds and Braves last met on the courts April 2 for their regular-season MVC matchup. ISU came out on top over Bradley, earning the doubles point and four-straight victories in singles action to defeat the Braves, 5-2.
Last weekend, the Redbirds split a pair of matches against MVC opponents Northern Iowa and Drake. In Saturday's matchup against Northern Iowa, the Redbirds won, 4-3, in a thriller to pick up their fourth MVC victory of the season. After claiming the doubles point over the Panthers, ISU picked up three more wins in singles play to secure the victory. Sunday the Redbirds fell to Drake, 6-1, with the lone victory coming from Veronika Golanova in No. 1 singles.
If ISU defeats Bradley on Friday, the Redbirds will move on to Saturday's semifinal round at 10 a.m. where they will face the winner of Friday's Wichita State versus Evansville matchup.
Friday's contest against Bradley is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex in Wichita, Kansas. Saturday the semifinals will be held at Crestview Country Club, and then Sunday, the championships will be back at the Sheldon Coleman TennisComplex. For updates on ISU women's tennis throughout the weekend, follow them on Twitter: @RedbirdWTEN.
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