April 21, 2007
Final Stats
NORMAL, Ill. -
With faint hope still alive for a fifth consecutive Missouri Valley Conference title and a strong chance to secure second place, the Illinois State women's tennis team dropped a heart-breaking 4-3 decision against Northern Iowa on Saturday afternoon at the McCormick Courts in Normal, Ill.
The match up versus the Panthers went down to the wire, but UNI was able to come away with the victory when Mariana Muraca bested freshman Jeanelle Stines in straight sets, 7-6 (3), 6-4, at the No. 5 spot in the lineup.
The loss drops the Redbirds' overall record to 11-8 (5-2 MVC), as they head into their final regular-season contest against Drake.
The victory was the eighth in the last 11 matches for the Panthers and improves their record to 16-5 (5-2 MVC).
"This was a very disappointing loss today," head coach Chris Hoover said. "We didn't come out and play the way we needed to against a good Northern Iowa team. Hopefully, we can come back tomorrow with the energy needed to get a win."
The match started with the Redbirds falling behind 1-0 after failing to capture the doubles point. UNI claimed its first doubles match at the No. 3 position where Meredith Esbeck and Carolina Hannes defeated the Redbird duo of junior Carolyne Parent and senior Matea Simovic, 8-4. The Panthers clinched the point when Mariana Muraca and Taynara Moraes beat freshman Julia Zubkova and Stines by the same 8-4 score.
ISU quickly rebounded to take a 2-1 lead by winning at the No. 2 and No. 4 singles spots in the lineup.
Zubkova tallied the Redbirds' first point when she breezed past Agnese Pukse in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, while Parent capture her 20th victory of the season by upending Hannes, 6-2, 6-4. Parent has now won 20 matches in back-to-back seasons.
UNI tied the match at 2-2 with a victory at the No. 6 position. Esbeck outlasted Simovic, 7-5, in the first set and finished the Quincy, Ill., native off with a 6-2 victory in the second set.
The teams remained tied at 3-3 after ISU won at the No. 3 position and UNI captured the point at No. 1. Junior Véronique Parke-Bédard won a grueling two-set match over Moraes for her 18th victory of the season. Parke-Bédard won 6-1 in the first set, but had to outlast Moraes, 7-6, 7-5 in the tiebreaker, to clinch the win.
Senior Katri Miller missed an opportunity to give ISU the victory when she lost 7-6 (1), 7-5, to Meghana Paritala at the top spot in the lineup.
Stines, appearing in her first singles match since March 9, led 5-3 in the first set before Muraca came back to win, 7-6, 7-3 in the tiebreaker. The UNI senior upended Stines in the final set to give the Panthers the victory.
ISU concludes the regular season on Sunday when it takes on Drake at the McCormick Courts in Normal, Ill. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m.
