March 16, 2008
Final Stats
HILO, Hawaii -
The Illinois State women's tennis team earned a win against No. 17 Hawaii Hilo, 5-2, on Saturday March 15, in Hilo Hawaii. Despite losing the doubles point, the Redbirds came back with a win earning them a 5-7 spring season mark.
The loss puts Hawaii Hilo at a 9-5 spring record.
"After losing the doubles point, it was a hard comeback, but everyone continued to play hard," said head coach Chris Hoover. "(Sophomore) Julia (Zubkova) and (Senior) Véronique (Parke-Bédard) came through with some important wins for us, in singles."
Zubkova competed at the No. 2 singles spot defeating Christie Pagatpatan, 6-3, 7-5, while Parke-Bedard beat Nicole Campbell, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, in the No.3 spot.
In the rest of singles, senior Katri Miller lost to Eve Castaing, 6-2, 6-4, in the No. 1 spot. Senior Carolyne Parent beat Susan Souksavath, 6-1, 6-3, in the No. 2 flight. At the No. 3 spot, junior Tanja Hrovatic won against Justine Abella, 6-1, 6-2. Freshman Katie O'Riley beat Carolina Ardila, 7-6, 6-1, in the No. 6 spot.
In doubles, Parent and Hrovatic got the only win by defeating Abella and Stephanie Tadaki, 8-3. The duo of Miller and Parke-Bedard lost to Pagatpatan and Castaing, 8-5, while Zubkova and O'Riley also were defeated by Campbell and Souksavath, 9-8.
Despite the win, Hoover hopes to see more improvement from the team.
"We are not as mentally tough as we need to be for the conference matches," said Hoover. "The Hawaii matches have great for the student-athletes and hopefully it will pay off come conference. We are looking forward to returning to ISU and beginning the conference season."
The Redbirds will compete in their first conference match this spring against Creighton on Friday, March 21 in Normal, Ill. The first serve is set for 3 p.m.
