Final Road Trip At UIC, Valparaiso Awaits The Redbirds

NORMAL, Ill. – With just three games remaining in the regular season, the Illinois State women's tennis team will look to remain undefeated in Missouri Valley Conference play when the Redbirds hit the road for their final league road trip of the season at UIC on Friday and Valparaiso on Saturday. First serve for both matches are set for Noon CT.

Illinois State (12-6, 5-0 MVC) picked up its fifth-straight win and seventh in the last nine matches overall following a 6-1 defeat of Bradley last Sunday. The Redbirds swept the doubles matches and won all but one of the singles matches, with the lone point for the Braves coming by way of retirement by a Redbird. 

For their efforts in wins last week over Murray State and Bradley, Tijana Zlatanovic and Tara Damnjanovic were honored with MVC weekly awards by the league office. Zlatanovic was named the MVC Singles Player of the Week for the second time this season, while the duo of Tara Damnjanovic and Zlatanovic earned their third MVC Doubles Team of the Week honor in 2023.

Zlatanovic rolled to two wins at the No. 1 spot for the Redbirds over the weekend to improve to 4-1 overall in MVC action at the top of the lineup for ISU. The No. 1 doubles duo of Damnjanovic and Zlatanovic shut out Murray State's No. 1 doubles team and then picked up a 6-4 victory at Bradley. With the win, the duo has won three-straight matches and 7 out of their last 10 overall to improve to 12-5 on the spring and 20-7 overall on the year.

UIC (9-8, 3-2 MVC) is gearing up for two home matches this weekend against Missouri Valley Conference members, with the match against the Redbirds on Friday at the XS Tennis Village and a Saturday match with Bradley. The Flames will look to add on to their three-match win streak at home and overall have won four out of their last six matches overall. 

Valparaiso (10-7, 0-5 MVC) is still looking for its first conference win of the season and will play host to Bradley on Friday before welcoming in the Redbirds on Saturday to the Valpo Tennis Complex. The Beacons have dropped their last three matches, most recently a 7-0 setback to Drake last Sunday in Des Moines, Iowa.

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