NORMAL, Ill. – The fall season for the Illinois State women's tennis team begins this weekend, when the Redbirds host Missouri Valley Conference rival Bradley, Saint Louis and Western Illinois at the annual Redbird Duals. Matches will take place at the Gregory Street Tennis Courts on Saturday and Sunday, beginning each day at 10 a.m.
"We're excited to start the season with a hidden dual format and get everyone going with a lot of matches over the weekend," ISU head coach Maja Kovacek said. "We have an MVC opponent and two regular-season opponents in the field, so it will be really good to see how we stack up early in the year before we face them later in the season."
Saturday's action will begin with one round of doubles, followed by two rounds of singles play. Action on Sunday will include two rounds of doubles, followed by the final round of singles matches. Doubles matches will be one set played to 6 and singles matches will be played best-of-three sets, with a match tiebreak for the third set if needed.
Saturday
9:00 a.m.: Warm-ups
10:00 a.m.: Doubles #1 - ISU vs. Bradley, SLU vs. WIU
11:00 a.m.: Singles #1 - ISU vs. SLU, WIU vs. Bradley
1:30 p.m.: Singles #2- ISU vs. WIU, SLU vs. Bradley
Sunday
9:00 a.m.: Warm-ups
10:00 a.m.: Doubles #2 - ISU vs. SLU, WIU vs. Bradley
10:45 a.m.: Doubles #3 - ISU vs. WIU, SLU vs. Bradley
12:30 p.m.: Singles #3 - ISU vs. Bradley, WIU vs. SLU
Illinois State was the No. 3 seed in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships last season and advanced to the semifinals, falling to eventual league champion UIC. The team returns three student-athletes who earned All-Valley honors last season, including Nicole Iosio who was tabbed All-MVC First Team singles honors at the No. 5 spot, and Sophie Marie Lowe who received All-MVC Second Team honors at No. 6. Emma Lindh also earned All-MVC First Team accolades with partner Elena Jankulovska at No. 2 doubles.
Next weekend, ISU will host the three-day Redbird Invitational (Sept. 26-28) and the fall season will conclude for the women's team just down the road in Champaign, as the Redbirds compete in the ITA Regionals (Oct. 16-19) hosted by Illinois. After a break, ISU will begin their spring dual-meet season in January, before conference play leads up to the 2026 MVC Women's Tennis Championships, April 24-26, hosted by UIC.
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