Freshman Laura Gravino, who teamed with Liina Suurvarik, rallied to win both her singles and doubles matches as the Illinois State womens tennis team rolled past Rollins College 7-2, Saturday, at the Martin Tennis Complex.
The Redbirds jumped on the No. 7 ranked team in Division II early, by winning all three doubles matches. With the victory Illinois State improved to 3-5 on the season, while Rollins College fell to 8-5.
I was really pleased with todays win, head coach Chris Hoover said. We took some chances with our doubles because there really wasnt an upside for my No. 1 team to play a Division II opponent. By mixing the pairs up it really paid off for us. I felt good with the overall play.
Gravino and Suurvarik overcame a 7-5 deficit in doubles against Rollins Jessica Niebauer and Carla Pietro to win 9-7. In singles, Gravino trailed the first set 3-0 against the Tars Andrea Root, but bounced back with a 6-3 win. Again in the second set, Gravino fell behind 4-1 only to win 6-4.
Laura has been right on the brink of breaking through all season, Hoover said. Hopefully she will be able to build on todays success. It was good for her to battle back the way she did.
Suurvarik also posted a win in singles competition with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Prieto. Alesia Mikalayeva and Shelby Lipson also were victorious in both doubles and singles action.
Illinois State returns to action on Sunday, when the Redbirds travel to DeLand, Fla., to face Stetson. The match will begin at 2:30 p.m.
