PEORIA, Ill. - After a split this past weekend, the Bradley women's tennis teams looks to start a new win streak at home this weekend, as the Braves host Chicago State (2-11) Friday at noon and IPFW (10-5) Saturday at 1 p.m. at Clubs at River City.
After to their best start in seven years, the Braves (7-4) could match their best single-season win total since 1992-93 (14-7) with a pair of victories this weekend. The 2012-13 Braves finished 9-17 overall for the team's best victory total since 1992-93.
Records fell last weekend, as sophomore Ariel Dechter broke both the season singles wins record as well as the combined wins record during her 4-0 weekend at Omaha and UMKC. Dechter is now 21-7 in singles and 35-13 combined this season.
Aimee Manfredo also tied a record last weekend as her 3-set win at No. 3 singles against Omaha tied the freshman singles wins record of 18 set by Dechter last season. Another Bradley freshman will look to surpass Dechter's 2013-14 total as Alexa Brandt carries a 17-10 record into the weekend.
Chicago State carries a 3-match winning streak versus Bradley into Friday's dual, but the Braves still own a 9-4 advantage in the series. The Cougars took the last matchup in the series, earning a 4-3 victory Jan. 29, 2012 in Chicago.
IPFW has won the last six in the series against Bradley to take a 6-5 lead in the all-time series. The Mastadons had won three straight in the series via 7-0 sweeps, before netting a 5-2 win against the Braves Feb. 14, 2014 in Fort Wayne.
Following this weekend's action, Bradley will play its next three duals on the road during their spring break trip to Louisiana and the Braves will not return home until opening their Missouri Valley Conference schedule April 3 against UNI. Admission to all Bradley Tennis home matches is free.