The Eastern men’s tennis team will be sending two of its top players in seniors Vuk Milicevic and Jordan Nestrud to Columbus, Ohio, to compete in the 2008 Wilson ITA Midwest Regional from today through Oct. 21.

The five-day tournament will be played at the Jesse Owens Recreation Center at Ohio State. Singles qualifying matches start at 9 a.m. today and continue through Friday.

Ohio State junior Justin Kronauge won the 2007 ITA Midwest Regionals singles title and teamed up with senior Drew Eberly to win the doubles title for a Buckeyes’ sweep at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

The best players from the Midwest compete in the ITA Midwest Regional to compete for the chance to go to nationals, but this has not made Milicevic or Nestrud intimidated in the least bit.

“We can compete with any of them,” Milicevic said. “Jordan and I have both played really well throughout the whole semester. We’re both going in with a lot of confidence and just because were playing bigger schools doesn’t mean we consider ourselves underdogs.”

Milicevic said he believes his and Nestrud’s key to succeeding will be to continue performing at the level they have been so far.

“We just have to play how we’ve been playing all year and be aggressive and step up to the challenge,” Milicevic said.

Nestrud said he believes a key for himself and Milicevic to play well is to make sure they do not lose focus on the simple shots.

“We both need to make our average balls better because we’re playing against the top players in the Midwest,” Nestrud said.

Milicevic competed in the tournament two years ago, and said he knows doing well in the tournament is not an easy task.

“It’s going to be rough out there,” Milicevic said. “There are no easy matches. I was there two years ago in Minnesota and there was very good competition there.”

Besides the difficult competition, the courts themselves could be a challenge for both players.

“One thing that will be tricky is the fact that we practice outdoor and the tournament is played indoor,” Milicevic said.

“Even though playing indoor tennis provides ideal conditions with no wind blowing, we haven’t had much indoor practice. It will definitely be a challenge, but Jordan and I are up for it.”

Considering both Milicevic and Nestrud are seniors, performing well in this tournament is a way for both of them to show how they have progressed as tennis players during their time at Eastern.

“This is the first time I’ve been able to go to a regional, and I want to showcase everything I’ve been working on the last three or four years,” Nestrud said.

Milicevic said he believes both of them have as good a chance as anyone to win at the regionals.

“Being both seniors, we would both like to go out on a bang,” Milicevic said. “Both of us are two guys to look out for in the tournament.”

Ari Horing can be reached at 581-7944 or at akhoring@eiu.edu.