The Illinois State womens tennis team overcame a blustry afternoon to post a decisive victory over Missouri Valley Conference foe Southern Illinois, in its home meet at McCormick Courts on Saturday. Head coach Chris Hoover believed overcoming the adverse weather will serve his team well in the remainder of the spring season.
It was a good day for us, said Hoover. We had to deal with a lot of wind and thats not really something you can practice. Today we had to endure the conditions and still find a way to be successful, and we did that. I was actually pleased with the wind, it caused some adversity for us to fight through and I think that we can take this day, and ultimately it will help us in the weeks to come.
In singles action the Birds swept the Salukis, winning all six singles matches. No. 1 Liina Suurvarik and No. 2 Katri Miller each contributed a singles win for the Birds, and also won their doubles match in the No. 1 position, 8-2. The No. 3 tandem of Ashley Maxwell and Laura Gravino also took their doubles match, winning 8-2.
No. 3 singles player, Elizabeth Bingier, won her match after going into a third-set play-off. Bingier won the play-off 10-8, after posting scores of 6-0 and 4-6 in the first two sets.
The Birds return to the court on April 9, when they travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to take on Drake. The match is slated to begin at 3:30 p.m., and coach Hoover is ready for the contest.
Were on a roll right now, said Hoover. Im looking forward to the next one.
Illinois State 7, Southern Illinois 0
Doubles
No. 1 - Liina Suurvarik/Katri Miller (ISU) over Maria Blanco/Jessica Knitter (SIU) 8-2
No. 2 - Alejandra Blanco/Tana Trapani (SIU) over Elizabeth Bingier/Emilie Sechaud (ISU) 8-5
No. 3 - Laura Gravino/Ashley Maxwell (ISU) over Zoya Honarmand/Zuzana Pavlovic (SIU) 9-7
Singles
No. 1 - Liina Suurvarik (ISU) over Alejandra Blanco (SIU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 - Katri Miller (ISU) over Maria Blanco (SIU) 6-2, 6-1
No. 3 - Elizabeth Bingier (ISU) over Jessica Knitter (SIU) 6-0, 4-6, (10-8)
No. 4 - Laura Gravino (ISU) over Zoya Honarmand (SIU) 6-3, 6-1
No. 5 - Emilie Sechaud (ISU) over Kari Stark (SIU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 6 - Ashley Maxwell (ISU) over Crothers (SIU) 6-0, 6-0
