published by: Brendan Dougherty, Sam Lund, and Keaton Rice.
The Bradley University Women’s Tennis team has had an up and down season so far. With Missouri Valley Conference play starting this weekend, the Braves are striving for not only wins, but consistency throughout the remainder of the season.
The Braves are 11-6 before entering competition at home against their I-74 rival. The Illinois State Redbirds have also had a good start to the season, as they enter the weekend 12-6. The Redbirds are 4-3 in away contests while the Braves are 7-2 in their home affairs. With an 0-3 record against the Redbirds in the last three regular season meetings, Bradley looks to get on the board with a win on Saturday. It will be Bradley’s first home match outdoors at the David Markin tennis courts on campus. The rain looks like it’s going to hold off so it will be great weather for some tennis here in the early spring.
The Redbirds and the Braves have a long-lasting rivalry and these matches always mean just a little bit more than a normal conference game. There is a lot of hype surrounding this year’s rivalry game and tensions will be high as there is a lot at stake to start conference play off on the right foot. After talking to a few of the players, we learned that Coach Tyler has talked about this match for a few weeks now. He’s just as excited as his players for this weekend.
Nikki Perlwitz, one of the team’s talented freshman who has helped the team to multiple victories so far this season also shared her thoughts on this weekend.
Perlwitz said, “I feel good about going into this weekend. We’ve talked a lot about this upcoming weekend with our team and coach and I’m super excited for it. It’s a really big match for us because the match-ups are tight and that calls for an exciting finish.”
Perlwitz isn’t the only one excited for the match this weekend. Natalia Barbery, a junior from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, says that this is going to be a fun one for the Braves. She believes that the practice leading up to this season has prepared them well and that she is excited to get the weekend started.
Barbery said, “We have been putting in a lot of work and have done everything that needs to be done. We are just going to go into the match and trust that we can do it and believe in ourselves.”
When asked how the team has been preparing for the match, Perlwitz said, “Our coaches have been emphasizing this match, but at the end of the day it’s just another match. We go as hard as we can to prepare for every match and prepare ourselves the best that we can.”
The matches are set to begin at 1:00 P.M. on Saturday, March 30th at Markin Tennis Courts. Follow the Braves on twitter @BradleyUTennis for updates throughout the weekend.