Redbirds Hit The Road For Matches In Milwaukee and Chicago

NORMAL, Ill – It will be a busy couple days for the Illinois State women's tennis team, but the Redbirds won't have to go far to compete as they travel for a Saturday match in Milwaukee and a Sunday morning tilt in Chicago. First serve on Saturday against Milwaukee is set for Noon CT, and Sunday morning's match at Chicago State is set to begin at 8 a.m., before the Redbird men's tennis team follows with a match of its own against the Cougars.

SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS
•    Illinois State (2-2) picked up a pair of wins last week at home, with a 4-3 win on Wednesday against Western Illinois and a 4-1 win on Sunday over Saint Louis to even their record this spring.
•    Senior Silvia Pomarolli went 2-0 at the No. 2 singles spot for the Redbirds last week. In Wednesday's close 4-3 win over in-state rival Western Illinois, Pomarolli came up big with a three-set win over Chloe Routier to help the Redbirds pick up their first team win of the season. She then followed that up with quick 6-1, 6-1 win over SLU's Fiorella Duran on Sunday to give the Redbirds their second win of the week. Pomarolli has now won three-straight singles matches for the Redbirds and is 3-1 this spring.
•    The doubles tandem of Emma Lindh and Vittoria Benedetti also went 2-0 at the No. 3 spot last week to help the Redbirds to a pair of wins over Western Illinois and Saint Louis at home, which earned them MVC Doubles Team of the Week honors. The duo picked up a 6-4 win over Nadezhda Petkova and Routier of Western Illinois and then picked up another win over SLU's Duran and Ella McLeod by a score of 6-2.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
•    With a 6-1 win over Chicago State already on its ledger from its home opener Tuesday, Milwaukee (1-2) continues a busy week with two more matches, with a home match against the Redbirds on Saturday before traveling to DeKalb, Ill., for a date with Northern Illinois Sunday. 
•    The Panthers are coming off a very successful fall campaign, finishing with cumulative record of 24-15 as a team in singles action and a record of 18-9 in doubles play.
•    The Panthers closed out two of the first three singles decisions against Chicago State and secured the victory with Nadiia Konieva's win at No. 2 singles. The team kept winning the rest of the afternoon, capped by an impressive comeback victory from Nel Van Hout at No. 1 singles to finish off the 6-1 team victory.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
•    Chicago State (0-6) heads into the match with the Redbirds coming off the loss mid-week to Milwaukee. 
•    CSU was blanked in its first four matches of the spring, with losses to Western Michigan, Missouri, Northern Illinois and Cincinnati. The Cougars were able to play Western Illinois tougher in a 5-2 loss, before the match with Milwaukee.
•    In singles play, CSU's Danina Hughes secured a victory at No. 5 singles with a straight-set win, 6-1, 6-3 to earn the lone points for the Cougars in the 6-1 loss to the Panthers.

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