ST. LOUIS – Stony Brook has been selected by league coach as the favorite in the 2019 preseason poll. The Seawolves received 44 total points and five first-place votes.
The Seawolves’ posted a winning record last season and earned the No. 2 seed in the MVC Team Championship. Stony Brook started off the 2018-19 campaign strong after taking home multiple individual tennis titles at the MVC Individual Championship in October. In the singles flight, Maria Ribeiro (No. 2) and Ana Carrion-Rodriguez (No. 4) were crowned the champions. Ribeiro teamed up with Sasha Bekirova and won at No. 2 doubles while Jamie Wei and Nolwenn Cardoso took No. 1 doubles.
Securing second with 39 points and one first-place vote is Illinois State who finished the 2017-18 season with an overall record of 13-9 (4-1 MVC). The Redbirds welcome back Veronika Golanova and Jelena Karla Vujanic who earned All-Conference honors last year. Golanova was named the No. 1 singles player and earned 2018 Player of the Year honors.
Drake came in with a close third with 36 total points after finishing last season with a 15-5 overall record (5-0 MVC). The Bulldogs earned three singles spots on the all-conference team as well as two doubles pairings. Liza Petushkova earned No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles all-conference honors. Petushkova was named the 2018 Freshman of the Year. Kelsey Neville and Megan Webb were crowned the 2018 MVC Individual Tennis Champions at No. 3 doubles.
Missouri State received 34 points and one first-place vote, placing fourth in the preseason poll. The Bears entered the 2018 MVC Team Championship ranked fourth and battled their way through the bracket to earn the Valley’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. Missouri State welcomes back four 2018 All-Conference team honorees. At the 2018 MVC Individual Tennis Championship, Fati Khamissi, one of the four all-MVC honorees, and freshman teammate, Clara Gandara Gonzalez claimed the individual titles at No. 3 and No. 5 singles, respectively.
Bradley notched the No. 5 spot, tallying 21 points in the preseason poll. The Braves have a young team with six underclassmen, among them is sophomore Sandra Maletin. Maletin earned All-Select team honors in 2018 for her performance. Bradley had a strong fall season at the MVC Individual Championship and ITA Central Regional Championship.
UNI and Valparaiso tied for sixth with 11 points, in the preseason poll. Northern Iowa entered the 2018 MVC Team Championship as the No. 6 seed and went on to upset the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds to advance to the finals for the first time since 2009. Valparaiso posted one of its highest total win seasons during the 2017-18 campaign. Valpo’s Jelena Vujanic was named to the all-select team in 2018 as a freshman. Vujanic claimed the No. 1 singles title at the MVC Individual Championship in the fall.
Competition begins this weekend with five out of seven teams competing. The first weekly tennis notebook will be released on Tuesday, January 22
nd. The 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Team Championship will be held April 26-28 in Cedar Falls, Iowa, hosted by Northern Iowa.
| Place |
Team (First Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. |
Stony Brook (5) |
44 |
| 2. |
Illinois State (1) |
39 |
| 3. |
Drake |
36 |
| 4. |
Missouri State (1) |
34 |
| 5. |
Bradley |
21 |
| T6. |
UNI |
11 |
| T6. |
Valparaiso |
11 |