NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's tennis team starts the 2016-17 season by traveling to Peoria, Illinois, this weekend to compete at the Bradley Invitational.
This year's roster includes four returning players and one newcomer. Third-year head coach Maja Kovacek leads the flock while also adding a new graduate assistant coach, Thiago Dualiby.
"We are really excited to go out and compete for the first time since April," Kovacek said. "Some of us might be a bit rusty and battle some nerves that come with the first competition, and our goal will be to stay composed if that happens and look for different ways to win."
Illinois State joins a seven-team field including: Bradley, Chicago State, DePaul, Eastern Illinois, Northern Illinois, Saint Louis and Western Illinois. All five Redbirds will be competing in this weekend's tournament.
The Bradley Invitational is set up as a flighted tournament with four singles flights and four doubles flights. The tournament will begin Friday at 10 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m.
Both singles and doubles flights one and four will take place at Bradley's David Markin Tennis Courts. Singles and doubles flights two and three will be held at the Illinois Central College Tennis Courts in East Peoria.
The invitational will serve as a tune-up before the Redbirds travel to Evansville, Indiana, for the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships held Oct. 8-10.
For live updates, follow Redbird Women's Tennis on Twitter: @RedbirdWTEN.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
###
