April 11, 2009
Stats
NORMAL, Ill. -
Redbird junior Natalia Lech snapped her three-match losing skid to help the Illinois State women's tennis team defeat Northern Iowa, 4-3, Saturday at the Gregory Street Tennis Courts. After losing the doubles point, the Redbirds fought hard to come back and win, going 4-2 in singles play.
Lech bested Northern Iowa's Lai Gonzalex-Garrido, 6-1, 6-4, in Flight 2 singles play. Lech is now 8-11 in dual singles play on the season and 2-4 in the No. 2 spot.
The contest began in doubles play, where the Redbirds went 1-2. The Redbird duo of Carmen Peters and Hannah Esker bested Sampada Kanade and Talia Jang-Stewart, 8-6, in Flight 3. Redbirds Julia Zubkova and Franziska Steinhardt fell to Northern Iowa's Gonzalez-Garrido and Phoebe Walker, 8-5, in Flight 1. The Panthers clinched the doubles point in Flight 2, where the Redbird pairing of Lech and Tanja Hrovatic lost to Jessica Kunzelmann and Taynara Moraes, 8-4.
After losing the doubles point, the Redbirds fought hard in singles play with Hrovatic leading the charge. Hrovatic clinched the win for Illinois State in Flight 3 singles after overcoming a first set loss. Hrovatic bested UNI's Kanade, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
"I really thought we were in trouble at the beginning of singles play," said head coach Chris Hoover. "However, the girls really fought hard. I knew the momentum had shifted after some of our second set wins. Tanja just got it in her head that she was not going to lose, and she won it for us."
Esker and Peters joined teammates Lech and Hrovatic with singles wins. Esker bested bested Moraes (UNI), 7-6(7-4), 6-2, in Flight 5, while Peters won over Jang-Stewart (UNI), 6-0, 6-0, in Flight 6.
Zubkova and Steinhardt both came back in each of their singles flights to win the second set. However, both Redbirds ultimately fell to Northern Iowa opponents in the third set. In Flight 1, Zubkova fell to Walker, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, while Steinhardt lost to Kunzelmann, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
With the win, the Redbirds improved to 11-8 overall this season and 3-2 in Missouri Valley Conference play. The Panthers fell to 12-7 on the season and 1-4 in the Valley.
The Redbirds are set to continue Valley play at home Sunday against Drake at 10 a.m. at the Gregory Street Tennis Courts, weather permitting.
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