2016-17 Schedule
NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State women's tennis head coach Maja Kovacek announced the program's 2016-17 schedule Tuesday. The Redbirds will open their fall season at the Bradley Invitational Sept. 23-25 and will host five matches in the spring along with the Missouri Valley Conference Team Championships in April.
Following the Bradley Invitational, the Redbirds will travel to Evansville, Indiana, for the MVC Individual Championships Oct. 8-10. Next, Illinois State will travel to Michigan for the ITA Midwest Regional Oct. 20-23. Then, the Redbirds will close out their fall season with the Florida International University Invitational, held in Miami, Florida, Oct. 28-30.
"I'm really excited to start competing this fall," Kovacek said. "Our players have done a tremendous job over the summer preparing for the season, and we have hit the ground running. The MVC Individual Championships is always the main focus for us in the fall, but we also have the FIU Invitational in Miami where we will face some very good teams."
The Redbirds will start their spring season with a doubleheader at home Jan. 29 against SIUE and Western Illinois. Illinois State then hits the road for six matches before returning to campus to face Chicago State Feb. 19. The Redbirds will visit the states of Nebraska, Wisconsin and California throughout their next ten matches.
"The spring slate is physically very challenging, starting with a doubleheader and then playing three matches in Indiana to start the season," Kovacek said. "During spring break, we will play four matches in seven days, so being healthy and having depth on the team will be crucial. We will be on the road a lot compared to last year, but we are really excited to host the MVC Team Championships in April. Having a chance to play in front of a home crowd is always a great experience for our student-athletes."
ISU will begin Missouri Valley Conference play April 1 at Bradley followed by two more conference road matches, before returning to host a two-day homestand against MVC foes Northern Iowa (April 15) and Drake (April 16).
The team will only travel two more times, to Missouri State (April 22) and to Wichita State (April 23) before returning home to host the 2017 MVC Team Championships April 28-30 at the Gregory Street Tennis Courts.
The Redbirds feature one senior, two juniors and one sophomore returning to the courts this fall, while adding one freshman and a new graduate assistant coach to the team.
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