April 27, 2016
Schedule | Match Notes | Championship Central | Follow @MSUBearsTennis
SPRINGFIELD - The Missouri State women's tennis team heads to Wichita, Kansas, for the start of the Missouri Valley Conference Team Tennis Championship on Friday, April 29, at the Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex. The Bears begin quarterfinals action as the six seed and face the third-seeded Drake Bulldogs at 2 p.m. Friday on the Wichita State campus.
The winner of that match will play at 2 p.m. Saturday at Crestview Country Club against the winner of No. 2 Southern Illinois and No. 7 Northern Iowa.
Last Weekend
MSU split its remaining two duals of the regular season at Cooper Tennis Complex, defeating Evansville 7-0 Friday, April 22, and falling to Southern Illinois 6-1 Sunday on Senior Day.
The Bears swept the Purple Aces by winning all 10 matches completed Friday. Anelisse Torrico Moreno won her 10th singles match of the year, joining four other Bears with double-digit victory marks. Ema Turudija was the lone Bear to earn a win Sunday. She won the final match of her career at Cooper Tennis Complex in three sets over SIU's Xiwei Cai at No. 1 singles.
We Meet Again
Missouri State and Drake are set to meet for the fourth time in two seasons when the teams face each other Friday in Wichita. Last season, the Bulldogs beat the Bears 7-0 on April 18, then knocked MSU out of the MVC Tournament with a 4-0 quarterfinals win less than a week later. MSU earned only its second conference win since being reinstated when the Bears defeated the Bulldogs, 4-3, on April 9 at Cooper Tennis Complex. Drake holds a 17-8 all-time series lead over MSU heading into the tournament matchup.
Big Senior Performances
Seniors Ema Turudija and Miranda Poile have been two of the Bears' top performers this season. Both are currently tied with a team-high 14 singles victories this season. While Turudija has accumulated a 13-10 mark at the No. 1 slot for MSU, Poile has played at Nos. 2-4 singles and started for the Bears at the No. 2 position in the last six duals. The two have also combined to form MSU's top doubles tandem, earning a team-high 12 victories this year at the No. 1 slot.
A Turnaround Season
The Bears have almost tripled their win total from a season ago, just two years after being reinstated to the Missouri State athletics lineup. MSU has made significant strides in both singles and doubles play. MSU's dual singles winning percentage has spiked from .308 to .424 behind 22 more victories than last year. The Bears' doubles teams' winning percentages have also increased, improving from .151 to .349 with 14 more wins in dual action. While only Torrico Moreno had double-digit victories in the 2014-15 season, she is joined in that category by Turudija, Poile, Phoebe Boeschen and Faty Khamissi during the 2015-16 season.
About Drake
The Drake Bulldogs are 14-11 overall heading into the MVC quarterfinal match against the Bears. Drake's lone losses in MVC play besides MSU were to first-seeded Wichita State (4-0) and a close 4-3 defeat to the second-seeded Salukis. The Bulldogs jumped to third in the conference standings by topping Bradley and Illinois State in their final matches of the regular season. Maddie Johnson leads the team with a 23-9 overall mark and 15-3 dual record. Tess Herder and Joely Lomas are the remaining Drake players with winning records in singles play.
Follow the Bears
Check out all the latest news and information on Bears tennis at MissouriStateBears.com and follow @MSUBearsTennis on Twitter for updates throughout the season.
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