Bradley University Athletics

New Indoor Home for Tennis in Pekin

Parkside Fitness

Josh Schwam, Communications Student Assistant Women's Tennis 1/14/2022 12:01:00 PM

PEKIN, IL – Bradley Tennis will begin hosting its indoor matches at Parkside Fitness in Pekin, marking the first indoor facility change for program after more than a decade at The Clubs at River City, Head Coach Matt Tyler announced today.

Parkside Fitness opened in 1975 and is a recreational gym owned and operated by the Pekin Park District. The facility boasts over 55,000 square feet of fitness facilities including four tennis courts, racquetball courts and a full weight room.

"First, I want to thank The Clubs at River City for allowing Bradley Tennis to make their facility our home for so long." Tyler said. "We are always looking for ways to improve our program and are thrilled with our partnership with Parkside Fitness. We've been practicing there for a few months now and couldn't be happier."

Bradley Tennis has had great success under Tyler at home, both indoors and outdoors.

At home indoor matches under Tyler, Bradley Tennis boasts a 35-21 (.625) record. It gets even better for the Braves when you combine outdoor home matches. Since Tyler took the helm in 2013-14, the Braves are 49-26 (.653) at three home venues.

Under Tyler, the Braves have won five consecutive home indoor matches three times, occurring in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to open the home season and in 2018-19 where Bradley also rattled off five straight triumphs at The Clubs at River City.

The Braves enter the 2022 spring campaign off a winning record in three straight seasons for the first time since 1990-93. During the fall season, the Braves were represented in the semifinal round in seven singles flights and three doubles flights of the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships. It marked the first time in program history that Bradley advanced everyone who played in the opening round.

BU was selected third in the 2022 MVC Preseason Poll for the second time in three years, announced Wednesday.

Bradley Tennis opens its spring campaign January 21^st against DePaul at Lakeshore Sport and Fitness in Chicago, IL. Its first home match at Parkside Fitness will take place February 12^th, when the Braves play a doubleheader against Omaha at 9 o'clock and Eastern Illinois at 3 o'clock.

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