NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's tennis team released its 2023-24 schedule, which features four tournaments in the fall, including this weekend's Redbird Invitational and the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championship.
The fall slate will begin this weekend at the Gregory Street Courts when the Redbirds host the annual Redbird Invitational (Sept. 29-Oct.1). The MVC Individual Championship, hosted by Missouri State, will follow from October 6-8 will be next up for ISU, before the team heads to East Lansing, Michigan, for the ITA Midwest Regional from Oct. 12-16. The fall season will conclude in East Lansing as well, as the Redbirds compete in the Michigan State Duals (Nov. 4-5).
"We're hosting an eight-team invitational event this year and the team is eager to start competing after four weeks of preparation," ISU head coach Maja Kovacek said. "Of course, the MVC Individual Championship is the focus of the fall, but we also wanted to make sure we have some great opportunities for tough competition at ITA Regionals and Michigan State to conclude the fall slate."
The team begins its spring season with two of its first three matches at home. A Jan. 20 match at Western Illinois kicks off the spring season, before the Redbirds play a couple of matches at home at the Evergreen Racquet Club against Eastern Illinois (Jan. 26) and Omaha (Jan. 28). A couple of tough matches in Nebraska will begin the month of February, as ISU faces off against Cal-Fullerton (Feb. 3) before taking on the nationally ranked Huskers the next day.
ISU will then stay close to home for the remainder of the month, never leaving the state of Illinois. A home match on Feb. 10 against Chicago State begins the stretch, followed by a road match the next day against nationally ranked Illinois in Champaign. The Redbirds will then host Marshall at ERC (Feb. 17), before travelling to Chicago to take on DePaul (Feb. 18). A road contest at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (Feb. 23) and a home match against Wisconsin (Feb. 25) will wrap up a busy month that features eight matches.
"I'm really excited about the spring season and the opportunities the regular season provides to challenge ourselves and take on nationally ranked teams," Kovacek said. "We have some tough home matches this year as well, and I feel like we will be ready for MVC play come March."
March will begin with a home match against Marquette (March 2), before the Redbirds take their spring trip to Honolulu to take on Hawaii (March 13). ISU will return stateside to begin Missouri Valley Conference action at Belmont (March 23) and Murray State (March 24), before returning home to host Valparaiso (March 29) and UIC (March 30). The month of April will also begin at home, with ISU hosting Bradley (April 7) before heading to Iowa the following weekend for matches at UNI (April 13) and Drake (April 14). A home contest against Missouri State on April 21 will end the regular season for the Redbirds, before they head to the MVC Championships from April 26-28.
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