April 7, 2006
Results
OMAHA, Neb. - Illinois State (6-5, 2-1) begins its weekend with a strong 6-1 victory over Creighton (9-5, 0-3) thanks to the Redbirds' rapid and dominating wins in singles. Both Nicole Schneider and Carolyne Parent have extended their single match winning streaks and earned the team's career high in victories.
Illinois State triumphed in all but one singles match. Véronique Parke-Bédard's No. 2 match was the only loss for the `Birds in singles. Parke-Bédard and Nicole Thurston battled it out in a three set tie breaker with Thurston taking the win, 6-1, 2-6, 10-5. Redbird assistant coach Liina Suurvarik believes Parke-Bédard was caught off guard.
"In the first set, Véronique was surprised that her opponent played as well as she did," said Suurvarik. "I am confident that if Véronique would have played another set she would have won."
Katri Miller played well against Katie Chiu earning a 6-1, 6-3 defeat in No.1 singles, and Emilie Sechaud's performance won her a strong 6-2, 6-0 score against Jennifer Burge for the No. 3 flight. Head coach Chris Hoover and Suurvarik were happy with Miller and the team's efficient play.
"Katri played very well today," said Suurvarik. "The good thing about today's singles was that every match was finished strong and quickly."
The ISU win put Parent and Schneider at a tie for the team's career high in single match wins, each earning a 9-2 record. In No, 4 singles, Parent downed her opponent, Lou Hurley 6-0, 6-0, and Schneider earned the same score against Lisa Ludwig. Matea Simovic's No. 6 match was no contest as she dominated Sarah Grawe 6-0, 6-1.
However, the wins in doubles did not come as easy.
"Doubles was a bit of a problem," said Suurvarik. "Our number three (pair) did well, but number one and number two struggled in their matches. They were a little too tentative."
Miller and Michelle Rabinovich had a close call in their 8-6 win against Burge and Katie Chiu for No. 1 doubles and Parke-Bédard and Ashley Maxwell's No. 2 match came even closer with a 8-7 defeat over Thurston and Hurley. However, Schneider and Simovic did not hesitate to end their match with a respective 8-0 win over Ludwig and Grawe.
"It was a good match for us," said Suurvarik. "It is nice to get a strong match win in before we play a stronger team tomorrow (UNI)."
Illinois State heads to Northern Iowa for its 11a.m. competition.
