Women's Tennis Hits the Road on Long Weekend To Face Two Big Ten Opponents

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.– The Illinois State women's tennis team will hit the road to face nationally-ranked opponents in No. 63 Purdue (B1G) on Saturday. The Birds will have a quick turnaround as they travel to Iowa City, Iowa to face No. 70 Iowa (B1G) on Monday.

KEY RETURNERS

The Birds return graduate student Elena Jankulovska (Skopje, Macedonia) along with juniors Lana Caculovic (Dugo Selo, Croatia), Zoe Limparis (Hinsdale, Illinois), Silvia Pomarolli (Cecina, Italy) and Nuria Sanz (Valencia, Spain).

NEWCOMERS

Head coach Maja Kovacek brings three freshmen into the Redbird line-up this season. This includes Nicole Iosio (Cordenons, Italy), Emma Lindh (Malmo, Sweden) and Sophie Marie-Lowe (Wimbledon, Great Britain).

COACHES CORNER

Maja Kovacek will be entering her 11th year and looks forward to the caliber of opponents the Redbirds will open the spring against. "We are really excited to start the season against Power-5 opponents. Both teams were nationally-ranked last year and this is going to be a great opportunity for us to challenge ourselves," Kovacek said.

Kovacek will be joined by former 2024 MVC All-Academic honoree Tijana Zlatanovic who begins her first season on the Redbird staff. A season ago, Zlatanovic posted an overall 21-11 record in singles which included a 16-8 mark at the No.1 position.

SCOUTING THE BOILERMAKERS

Purdue finished the 2023-24 campaign with an overall record of 13-10 and posted a Big Ten record of 5-6. The Boilermakers will be led by Ece Gencer who was named Big Ten Player to Watch on January 6. 

SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES 

Iowa comes off a 2023-24 season where the Hawkeyes went 11-12 overall and held a 6-5 record in Big Ten Conference play. Iowa will be led by this season's Big Ten Preseason Player to Watch, Tereza Dejnozkova. 

UP NEXT

Illinois State will return to Bloomington, Ill. on January 26 for a double-header with Western Illinois (OVC) and University of Illinois-Springfield (UIS) inside of Evergreen Racquet Club at 12:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.

FOLLOW THE REDBIRDS

For all the latest on Illinois State women's tennis, stay tuned to GoRedbirds.com and follow the team on "X" (@RedbirdWTEN), Facebook (Illinois State Women's Tennis Team) and Instagram (redbirdwtennis).

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