Two Missouri Valley Conference victories in the final weekend of the regular season vaulted the University of Evansville tennis team into third place in the final standings, and means the #4 seed Purple Aces will play fifth place Southern Illinois in the first round of the State Farm MVC Tournament on Friday at 9:00 a.m. CDT. The eight-team, single-elimination tourney will take place at the Dwight Davis Tennis Complex in St. Louis Friday through Sunday. The UE-SIU winner takes on the winner of Friday's quarterfinal between #1 Wichita State and #8 Bradley on Saturday at 1:00. The championship match takes place Sunday.
Evansville's third place finish and number four seed in the tournament are both the best since the Aces joined the league in 1995. Coach Nick Mueller's Aces defeated Bradley on Friday, then climbed into a third place tie with Drake by defeating Illinois State late on Saturday at Tri-State Athletic Club, 4-3. UE goes into the tournament with a 12-7 overall record and 4-3 league record. The Aces defeated their opening round opponent, fifth seed Southern Illinois, 6-1 on March 31.
"Our players in singles were just awesome against Illinois State," Mueller said. "We need to tweak our doubles a little, but overall I'm very pleased. It was a great final week to the regular season, and we're looking forward to competing in St. Louis."
Four UE singles players go into the tournament with winning records in MVC matches, led by Kate Chybowski's 6-1 record at number one. Aleksandra Dzakula was 5-2 at number two and three singles, Dora Kotsiou was 4-2 at two, and Pin Sorensen was 4-3 at three, four and five.
