Despite the excellent season the Illinois State womens tennis team was unable to finish off with a win falling to No. 1 seed Virginia Commonwealth, 4-0, in Saturdays NCAA regional match at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center at Northwestern.
The No. 4 Redbirds started off the day by dropping the crucial doubles point. The Missouri Valley All-Conference No. 2 doubles team Laura Gravino and Alana Hoffman fell, 8-2, to Marina Escobar Martinez and Beatriz Cabrera. At No. 3 flight Shelby Lipson and Ashley Maxwell dropped to Cristina Gago and Ana Franco Lopez, 8-2. At No. 1 doubles Liina Suurvarik and Alesia Mikalayeva were up 6-5 over Silvia Urickova and Barbora Zahnova.
The Birds did not fair much better in singles play by getting swept by VCU. At No. 4 singles position Elizabeth Bingier gave it all she had before losing to Urickova 6-2, 6-3. At the No. 5 singles flight Emilie Sechaud dropped to Gago 6-2, 6-4. VCU clinched the victory when Lipson fell to Lopez 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 6 flight.
Head coach Chris Hoover was disappointed the team was unable to pick up a point.
We played much better than the score shows, a couple matches could have gone either way, Hoover said. It was a great opportunity to play a strong team. Hopefully we can make it back again and put together a better showing.
Suurvarik knows that she will have to play better when she competes in the NCAA individuals Monday, May 19.
This meet was a wake up call for me, Suurvarik said. I will work hard next week to prepare myself for a good showing at the NCAA individuals.
VCU will take on Kansas State in the regional finals Sunday at 12 p.m.
