Toledo, Ohio - The Toledo women's tennis team will be competing in the Redbird Invitational hosted by Illinois State on Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 23-24 in Normal, Ill. The Rockets will face Southeast Missouri State on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. CT and will then take on either Illinois State or Creighton on Sunday.
 
The Rockets are coming off a three-match win streak. Feb. 8 the Rockets edged out Cleveland State 4-3 in Toledo. Freshmen Eileen Carney and Christina Fuller clinched the match at the No. 2 and No. 5 positions as they pushed their opponents to third sets. On Feb. 9 the Rockets defeated Wright State 5-2 at home, purely from victories in singles play.
 
UT opened the road portion of the season at Youngstown State on Feb. 15, where they edged out Penguins 4-3. The Rockets had a rocky start, dropping the doubles point, but came back in singles play. Fuller was up 6-4, 3-1 in her match at the No. 4 spot before her opponent defaulted and fellow freshman Kiersten Carlson won at the No. 5 spot. Junior Dee Dee Leenabanchong claimed victory at the No. 1 position after a three-set battle and senior Claire Aleck clinched the match for the Rockets with her three-set thriller at the No. 6 position.
 
Scouting Illinois State
Last season the Redbirds were 13-10, 4-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference. ISU recorded two regular season sweeps over Chicago State and Valparaiso. In the MVC team championships the Redbirds were edged out in the first round by Northern Iowa 4-3.
 
Redshirt-senior Veronika Golanova leads the Redbirds and was named Missouri Valley Conference women's tennis Player of the Year last season. Golanova was a finalist in the No. 1 singles spot at the MVC Individual Championships, finishing the season with a 20-12 overall singles record. Partnered with Jelena Vuijcic, Golanova claimed the MVC Individual Championship doubles title at the No. 1 position and finished the season with a 16-5 doubles record. Vuijcic took a third-place title at the No. 2 singles position at the MVC Individual Championship and had an overall record of 10-11.  
 
The Redbirds are currently 6-3 this season, snagging two 4-3 victories over IUPUI and Detroit Mercy and sweeping UMKC and Lewis University.
 
Scouting Creighton
Last season Creighton was 15-8, 0-2 in the Big East Conference. The Bluejays had four regular season sweeps and won four matches in a row with a score of 6-1. In the Big East Championships Creighton swept #10 seeded Providence 4-0 in the first round before falling to #2 seeded DePaul in the quarterfinal 4-1.
 
Senior Ashley Ishimura was selected for the 2018 All-BIG EAST Second Team and led the Bluejays in singles wins, finishing the season with a record of 15-5 at the No. 1 position. Ishimura went 6-9 at No. 1 doubles, going 5-4 when paired with Michaela Henne. Sophomore Erin Epperson was second on the team with 14 singles victories last season and had a team-best 15 doubles wins. 11 of Epperson's doubles wins were earned with senior Claire Embree. Embree finished the season with a 13-5 singles record and went 14-7 in doubles.
 
Creighton is 2-4 this season, bagging a narrow win over Drake 4-3 in January and defeating Western Illinois 6-1 earlier this month.
 
Scouting Southeast Missouri State
Southeast Missouri State finished last season with a 7-11 record, going 3-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks snagged six of their seven victories in 4-3 edge outs, defeating Bradley, Northern Illinois, Saint Louis, Western Illinois, Tennessee State, and Murray State. Five of the Redhawks' losses were 4-3 matches they couldn't quite clinch.
 
The Redhawks return four players: two seniors, one junior, and one sophomore. Junior Kseniya Zonova led the team last season with a 10-6 dual singles record and went 9-4 at the No. 2 spot. Zonova  garnered Second-Team All-OVC honors. Paired with senior Isabella Krupa, Zonova went 2-2 at No. 1 doubles.
 
Currently 2-3, the Redhawks have clinched 4-0 sweeps over Nebraska-Omaha and Missouri State.
 
Full Schedule of Play
Saturday, Feb. 23 - All Times Central
10:00 a.m. - Illinois State vs. Creighton
2:00 p.m. - Toledo vs. Southeast Missouri State
 
Sunday, Feb. 24
9:00 a.m. - Consolation Match
12:30 p.m. - Championship Match