NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's tennis team released its 2018-19 schedule, which features six tournaments in the fall, including the prestigious Oracle ITA Masters event.
Veronika Golanova will open the fall slate on Thursday, Sept. 29 as she heads to Malibu, California to compete against some of the best players in the country.
"I'm very excited about the Oracle ITA Masters event," said head coach Maja Kovacek. "As the 2018 MVC Player of the Year, Veronika has been selected to compete at the highest level of collegiate tennis, so this is an excellent opportunity for her."
The first team event for the fall season will take place on the Redbirds' home court on Saturday, Sept. 29 as the team hosts the Redbird Duals. The 'Birds will travel to Missouri State the following weekend for the MVC Individual Championship.
"The focus every fall semester for us is the MVC Individual Championship," Kovacek said. "We have a full month of practice and a home event scheduled to make sure we adequately prepare to face the tough competition in the MVC."
The Redbirds remain on the road for the remainder of the fall season, with stops at Ann Arbor, Michigan for the ITA Midwest Regional, and conclude 2018 at the New Mexico Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The team begins its spring season with six matches at home, facing IUPUI (Jan. 20), Detroit Mercy (Jan. 26), UMKC (Jan. 27), Lewis (Jan. 27), Chicago State (Feb. 1) and UIC (Feb. 2). The Redbirds will then take to the road for three match ups, including Marquette (Feb. 9), Lipscomb (Feb. 16) and Murray State (Feb. 17).
"Our spring semester has a good mix of home and away games," said Kovacek. "One new event this spring is the Redbird Invitational, which will feature four teams from four conferences competing in a championship format. It will be exciting for our players, since we are putting a different spin of playing two matches in a weekend like we regularly do, and we will host a few teams we don't often play."
The Redbird Invitational will take place Feb. 23-24 with start times set for 10 a.m. and 9 a.m., respectively. The team will remain home, as they face Akron on Friday, March 1 and Western Illinois on Saturday, March 2, and conclude the weekend on the road at Butler on Sunday, March 3.
The Redbirds will then host Depauw on Friday, March 8, before heading to California for their spring break trip.
The 'Birds take on three teams in California, including Westmont College, UC Riverside and University of California Irvine, during the week of March 10.
After a two-week hiatus, the 'Birds take to the road to begin MVC match ups, with stops at Bradley, Valparaiso and Missouri State. The team will close out the regular season at home, as they face UNI (April 20) and Drake (April 21).
Illinois State will finish the 2019 spring season at the MVC Team Championship, which is scheduled for April 26-29 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
