Tennis Bears To Face UIC To Start MVC Tournament

Baseline Knowledge

• The Missouri State tennis team begins a run at a Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship on Friday with a 2:00 p.m. match against No. 3 seed UIC. The winner will face No. 2 seed Illinois State in the semifinals on Saturday. The tournament is hosted by Belmont in Nashville.
• The Bears earned the No. 6 seed in the tournament while UIC was named No. 3.
• When the Bears and Flames faced off earlier this season, Missouri State won the match 4-3 with all four wins happening in singles. Tuana Gunal secured the victory with a win at No. 3 after forcing her match to three sets.
• The Bears (13-9) ended the regular season with 13 total wins, the Bears best record since 2003. MoState also had an 8-1 record at home for their first home winning record since 2019.
• Two Bears received all-MVC honors. Sandra Lukacova was named first team in the No. 6 flight and Nicole Ross was named second team in the No. 5 flight.
• Four Bears have been named to the MVC Scholar Athletes. Juliette Robinson was named to the second team and Mary Houston, Amy Henning and Lukacova were honorable mentions.
• In the preseason poll, MoState was picked to finish eighth in the conference.