The Illinois State womens tennis team posted a decisive road victory over IUPUI Friday night, winning 7-0. The Birds won each singles match in two sets, after enduring some close matches in doubles competition.
Illinois State was led once again by its No. 1 doubles team of Liina Suurvarik and Katri Miller, which defeated Brookley Crews and Michelle Cunningham, 8-6. With the victory, Suurvarik and Miller extended their doubles winning streak to four matches.
No. 1 Suurvarik, who is on a four-match winning streak of her own, improved her spring season singles record to 5-1, when she defeated Crews, 6-0, 6-2. Millers record moved to 4-2 on the spring season, as she won her second straight singles match in the No. 2 spot, with a victory over Mallory Stemle, 6-0, 6-2.
Head coach Chris Hoover was pleased with his teams performance, especially in the singles competition, and hopes the momentum will carry over to the Birds next match-up.
We started out slow in doubles tonight, said Hoover. But we were able to pull it out. We turned up the heat in singles, I was very pleased with our effort there. Hopefully we learned a little tonight that will help us in the future, and we wont get behind like we did here in doubles. In our next competition we need to take control from the start.
Illinois States record moved to 3-3, while IUPUI slipped to 2-4. The Birds return to the court in a home match-up with St. Louis University at the Evergreen Racquet Club on Sunday, February 29. The match is slated for a 1 p.m. start.
Illinois State 7, IUPUI 0
Doubles
No. 1 - Liina Suurvarik/Katri Miller (ISU) over Brookley Crews/ Michelle Cunningham (IUPUI) 8-6
No. 2 - Elizabeth Bingier/Emilie Sechaud (ISU) over Mallory Stemle/Emily Dukeman (IUPUI) 8-6
No. 3 - Laura Gravino/Michelle Rabinovich (ISU) over Alyssa Halcomb/Amanda Valfe (IUPUI) 9-7
Singles
No. 1 - Liina Suurvarik (ISU) over Brookley Crews (IUPUI) 6-0, 6-2
No. 2 - Katri Miller (ISU) over Mallory Stemle (IUPUI) 6-0, 6-2
No. 3 - Elizabeth Bingier (ISU) over Michelle Cunningham (IUPUI) 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 - Emilie Sechaud (ISU) over Emily Dukeman (IUPUI) 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 - Laura Gravino (ISU) over Alyssa Halcomb (IUPUI) 6-0, 6-0
No. 6 - Ashley Maxwell (ISU) over Amanda Valfe (IUPUI) 6-0, 6-1
