The Illinois State womens tennis team defeated non-conference foe IUPUI Friday evening at the Evergreen Racquet Club in straight sets, to record a 7-0 victory. Head coach Chris Hoover complimented the senior leadership of Elizabeth Bingier and Laura Gravino as a catalyst for the Redbirds win over the Jaguars.
Although the No. 1 doubles duo of Bingier and Gravino lost a tough match 8-5 at the No. 1 position to the IUPUI pair of Michelle Cunningham and Mallory Stemle, each was able to bounce back and record wins in their respective singles matches. Bingier, playing at the No. 1 singles spot for the Birds, defeated Stemle 6-3, 6-2, while Gravino recorded a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Cunningham at the No. 2 position. Hoover was pleased with the fighting efforts of his two seniors after the tough doubles loss.
Liz and Laura did not have easy matches today, especially in doubles, said Hoover. But both came out tough after the doubles loss and showed good senior leadership. This is a young team, we have to learn to win, and hopefully through matches like these, with examples like we got from our seniors tonight, the younger players can continue getting stronger and more confident.
Freshman Veronique Parke-Bedard recorded a singles win at the No. 3 spot, defeating Andrea Burkhardt 6-1, 6-2, while Emilie Sechaud recorded a 6-2, 6-0 win over Tessa Williams in the No. 4 position. Carolyne Parent and Ashley Maxwell rounded out the Redbird singles winners, as Parent took the No. 5 singles match with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Nicola Evans, and Maxwell defeated Leah Taylor 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 6 position.
In doubles action, the duo of Maxwell and Parke-Bedard downed the IUPUI pair of Evans and Williams 8-3 in the No. 2 spot, while Sechaud paired with Matea Simovic at the No. 3 position to defeat Burkhardt and Taylor 8-0. Hoover was pleased with the Redbird win, and also happy to see his team reach .500, as the teams record moved to 6-6 on the season.
I dont think, in my whole tenure coaching here, weve taken this long to even up our record, said Hoover. We needed this win, and now that were at .500 we can continue working toward a winning record. We have one more opportunity to take complete control of our play before we start our conference season. Hopefully we can take Valparaiso when we play them tomorrow and head into conference with confidence.
The Redbirds return to the court Saturday with a 2 p.m. match against Valparaiso at the Evergreen Racquet Club. The match, originally scheduled for 1 p.m. at the McCormick Courts, has been moved indoors due to inclement weather conditions.
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