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(CSTV U-WIRE) NORMAL, Ill. -- Maybe it's just a matter of time. After a slow start, the ISU women's tennis team took their first step toward resembling the team that has won four straight regular season MVC championships at the Spartan Invitational in East Lansing, Mich.
Although the format of the tournament did not allow for any technical winners or losers, ISU coach Chris Hoover said he was more impressed by his team than he was in his team's previous outing in St. Louis.
"We looked a lot better this weekend. We generally played better and competed harder," he said.
Each of the eight participating teams faced-off against three others in singles and doubles play in the mock dual style tournament. Overall, the Redbirds finished 10-8 in singles play and 7-1 in doubles. Michigan State was the only team to beat ISU outright in the head-to-head duels.
Hoover said there were both advantages and disadvantages to this style of tournament, which was held last weekend.
"I liked it because I could move kids around the lineup from match to match and try them out in different positions. It's just too bad there's not some kind of winner or way to determine some sort of a champion," he said.
All six of the active Redbirds finished the tournament with four total wins and no more than two total losses. Hoover said he was most impressed by his Canadians, Carolyne Parent and Veronique Parke-Bedard, and his freshmen, Jeanelle Stines and Julia Zubkova.
He was also glad to see his two seniors, Katrii Miller and Matea Simovic, compete with few, if any, traces of injuries that had slowed them down over the past few weeks.
"Matea's back didn't bother her all weekend, which is good. And Katrii [who was having problems with her knee] is slowly finding her way back," Hoover said.
After the Redbirds opened the tournament with three doubles victories against Morehead State, MSU took down ISU in five of six singles matches. Park-Bedard's 6-7, 7-6, 10-7 win over Spartan captain Sarah Andrews was all that prevented the sweep.
Later in day one, the 'Birds completed a sweep of their own, with six singles victories over Ball State.
On day two, ISU again opened up by sweeping doubles, this time against Detroit Mercy. The Redbirds then split a pair of doubles matches against conference rival Indiana State before finishing 3-3 in singles against Eastern Michigan to complete their tournament.
The 'Birds next appearance will be at the MVC Conference Individual tournament, held from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 in Omaha, Neb.
"Right now, we're going to take this weekend off, heal up and get ready to make a run at The Valley Individuals," Hoover said.
MEN'S SINGLES SHINE AT BALL STATE
The ISU men's tennis team started their season last weekend with a bit of a role reversal at the Ball State Invitational.
The Redbirds brought home championships in two out of the three singles tournaments, while their traditionally strong doubles teams returned to Normal empty handed.
Both Alfredo Lagarda and Oscar Beich fought through third-set tiebreakers against opponents from the host school to earn individual titles.
Lagarda won the B Flight by defeating Brett Berryman 6-2, 4-6, 10-4 and Beich out-dueled Jorge Rodriguez 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 to win the C Flight.
"It's the first year we've ever won two individual titles here. We've made singles a priority for this fall and I felt like we played really well," ISU coach Greg Kennett said.
Increased attention to singles play, however, may have hurt the 'Birds when it came to their doubles matches. After winning two doubles titles last year, only this year's C Flight team of Tim Link and Michael Hobson made it past the second round.
Kennett said his team's struggles with doubles wasn't too surprising.
"We kind of knew that might happen. We haven't practiced many doubles yet so we're still searching for our best combinations," Kennett said.
For the first time ever, a doubles bracket included a loss next to the names of Luka Marinkovic and Daniel Tobar. The previously unbeaten pair experienced their first dose of adversity in the A Flight Doubles Bracket at the hands of Bradley's Will Lofgren and Alex Roby. Despite ending an 18-0 run, Kennett said no one would lose too much sleep over the loss.
"They were disappointed but they handled it fine. They lost to a good team and they were both a bit tired from some tough matches earlier in the day," he said.
After day one of the tournament, ISU was in position to potentially win all three singles flights. Their bid to sweep ended on Saturday when both Marinkovic and Yohann Nograbat lost in the quarterfinals of the A Flight. Nuno Jacinto and Michael Hobson also won two singles matches in the B and C Flights, respectively, before being knocked out.
Lagarda, who defeated five opponents to earn the B Flight title, said he is hoping to continue to supply noteworthy finishes for the Redbirds in his final season at ISU.
"I feel like my mental game has improved a lot. I used to miss some easy shots because of the pressure, but I've learned to handle those situations a little bit better and I've got more confidence," the senior said.
Kennett attributed Beich's win to his unwavering style of play.
"Oscar is always an animal on the court. He isn't always going to play well, but he fights hard and eventually figures it out. He did a great job of putting pressure on [Rodriguez] in the tiebreaker," he said.
Eleven other schools participated in the tournament, which has served as ISU's season opener since the 1990s.
Kennett had said he wanted to use the tournament to set the tone for the season, and he came away with a good feeling.
"This tournament showed the depth and strength of our team. We certainly appear to be in good shape as we look toward the future," he said.
(C) 2006 The Daily Vidette via U-WIRE