April 26, 2008

Final Stats

OMAHA, Neb. - The Illinois State women's tennis team fell to the nationally-ranked No. 72 Wichita State, 4-0, in the semifinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championship on Saturday at the Koch Family Center in Omaha, Neb. The loss concludes the Redbirds' season with a 13-10 overall record and 7-3 against MVC opponents, while No. 2 seed Wichita State heads to the finals with a 16-7 overall record and a 9-2 Valley mark.

The Shockers began the day by winning the doubles point. Senior duo of Véronique Parke-Bédard and Katri Miller fell to Stephanie Dalmacio and Laryssa Ferreira, 9-8 (7-4) at the No.1 spot, while senior Carolyne Parent and sophomore Julia Zubkova were bested in the No. 2 position by Lenora Lazaroiu and Anna Egorova, 8-3.

"We were really close to making it a match." said head coach Chris Hoover. "The No. 1 doubles lost in a tiebreaker and we were playing well at No. 3. We had a chance at the doubles point which I think would have made a difference for the overall match and certainly would have made a difference immediately going into singles. We had a shot at it but we just let get away from us."

In singles action the Shockers continued their dominance. Dalmacio took Miller in straight sets of 6-0, 6-1, in the No. 1 spot, while Parke-Bédard fell to Egorova, 6-0, 6-4, in flight No. 3. The shockers garnered their last point in the No. 6 position as freshman Katie O'Riley lost to Ferreira, 7-5, 6-1.

We were about to go into 3 sets with 3 of our singles matches but it was too late; Wichita State got their fourth point. It was a whole lot closer than the 4-0 score says. I'm just sorry we weren't able to pull out the doubles and put a little heat on them.

With the loss the Redbirds will also be losing Miller, Parke-Bédard and Parent. Miller has competed mainly at the No. 1 spot for the past five years earning a career singles mark of 79-64 and a doubles record of 88-42.

Parke-Bédard leaves the Redbirds with a 21-12 singles season record and a career record of 83-47 in singles and 57-34 in doubles competition.

Parent ends her four-year run with the `Birds, with career records of 81-48 in singles and 55-59 in doubles.

"The seniors played well," said Hoover. "It was a good year for Illinois State. It was the tenth time in the last 11 years that program has been in the top three in the valley, which is a pretty good record. The seniors are going out with a couple of conference championships under their belts, some all-conference accolades, and some scholar-athlete accolades, and that's what it is all about. I couldn't be more pleased with how they fought and played throughout their careers."

Despite losing three seniors the Redbirds hope to return five players for next year including Zubkova who has led the team with a stellar 25-9 singles record and junior Tanja Hrovatic who has ended her season with a 22-12 singles mark.

"The returning players are already talking about next year. We are going to do our best to get ourselves prepared and take a run at it next year," said Hoover.