MVC Championship Preview

Bradley Tennis will take the No. 5 seed into this week's Missouri Valley Conference Women's Tennis Team Championship

2018 MVC Team Tennis Bracket (PDF)

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Women's Tennis 4/24/2018 9:22:00 AM

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
2018 MVC Women's Tennis Team Championship
Springfield, MO | Cooper Tennis Complex
Friday, April 27 | Quarterfinals
(5) BRADLEY at (4) Missouri State, 10:00 a.m.
(6) UNI vs. (3) Illinois State, 1:00 p.m.
(7) Valparaiso vs. (2) Stony Brook, 1:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 28 | Semifinals
BRADLEY/ Missouri State vs. (1) Drake, 10:00 a.m.
UNI/Illinois State vs. Valparaiso/Stony Brook, 1:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 29
Championship, 10:00 a.m.

LAST WEEK'S RESULT
Sunday, April 22 vs. VALPARAISO, H, W, 7-0

SINGLES PLAYER-OF-THE-WEEK NOMINEE
Sandra Maletin, Bradley, Fr., Belgrade, Serbia
In Bradley's lone dual match last week, Maletin earned a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles, helping the Braves to a 7-0 victory against Valparaiso … The victory secured Maletin a winning record at No. 1 singles for the season by pushing her dual match record to 10-8 … She has become just the fourth player in Bradley history to win at least 10 matches at No. 1 singles and the first-ever Braves freshman to reach double-digits at the top spot in the playing order.

DOUBLES TEAM OF THE WEEK NOMINEE
Natalia Barbery/Sandra Maletin, Bradley
Barbery and Maletin set the tone for Sunday's 7-0 victory against Valparaiso by cruising to a 6-1 victory at No. 1 doubles … The duo improved to 14-11 overall and 3-2 in conference play to become just the second Bradley doubles team (Arial Dechter/Ashley Thai in 2014-15) to play multiple league matches with a winning record since 1993.

MVC TOURNEY QUARTERFINAL MATCHUP
Bradley is the No. 5 seed for this weekend's Missouri Valley Conference Women's Tennis Team Championship … The Braves will take on tourney host and No. 4 seed Missouri State in Friday's 10 a.m. quarterfinal match at the Cooper Tennis Complex … The Bears pulled out a 4-3 win April 7 at Bradley to snap a 3-match skid in the series since restarting their program for the 2014-15 season.

QUARTERFINAL UPSETS
Bradley has reached the semifinals of the MVC Women's Tennis Championship in each of the last two years by pulling off quarterfinal upsets as the lower-seeded team … As the fifth seed in 2015, the Braves knocked off No. 4 seed Illinois State, 4-1, to earn their first-ever trip to the semifinals … As the sixth seed last year, the Braves again upset the third-seeded Redbirds, 4-3 … For the Braves to reach the semis for a third consecutive year, they once again will have to upset a higher-seeded tourney host, No. 4 seed Missouri State.

MVC RESULTS
For just the second time in program history, Bradley's players completed their MVC season with a .500 record in individual singles play … Bradley's six players posted a 15-15 combined record in the six positions of conference singles play … Although Bradley's archives do not show a breakdown of individual conference results during the 1992-93 season, the season's team scores (3-2 MVC) and individual total stats (81-41 overall singles records) suggest the Braves likely enjoyed a winning singles season in their five conference matches … All of Bradley's six players in 2017-18 won at least two conference singles matches.

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