NORMAL, Ill. – The defending Missouri Valley Conference champion Illinois State women's tennis team will officially begin its fall slate on Saturday, when the Redbirds travel over on I-74 to Champaign to compete in the Universal Tennis College Circuit event hosted by Illinois.
Universal Tennis College Circuits is a new series of open, tiered prize money tournaments hosted by college campuses. These events attract the best players across the country and provide college players, adults, and high-level junior players with more opportunities to play competitive matches.
"This weekend is a great opportunity for us to get some tough matches in," ISU head coach Maja Kovacek said. "We've been putting in a lot of hours last couple weeks and I know everybody's excited to get out there and compete for the first time this fall."
The Redbirds will be led by two-time MVC All-Conference selection and 2021 MVC Player of the Year Tijana Zlatanovic at the No. 1 spot. She will be joined by her doubles partner Tara Damnjanovic and standouts Alexandra Abyasova, Elena Jankulovska and Othilia Brodin. They will be joined by four newcomers who will look to continue the team's recent championship success in Nevena Kolarevic, Zoe Limparis, Iva Poleksic, and Silvia Pomarolli.
This weekend's tournament will be the first of five scheduled this fall for the Redbirds, who will host the annual Redbird Invitational September 30-October 2 at the Gregory Street Courts weather permitting. ISU will then travel to Springfield, Missouri, for the annual Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championship hosted by Missouri State from October 7-9. The ITA Midwest Regional hosted by Michigan in Ann Arbor will follow October 20-25, before ISU wraps up the fall tournament season at home with the Redbird Duals on November 5-6.
"We are excited to host two home events this fall after a long time," Kovacek continued. "We also have the first MVC Individual Championships with the new teams in the conference. That's going to be an extremely competitive tournament and preparing for that event will be the focus of our fall season."
Following the completion of the fall tournament portion of the schedule, the Redbirds will begin their spring dual-meet slate in late January at home against Eastern Illinois and UIS. For continued schedule announcements and match time updates, stay tuned to the women's tennis schedule on GoRedbirds.com.
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