Feb. 1, 2010
Final Stats
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -
Senior Julia Zubkova led the Redbird victories over Butler, 5-2, and Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI),6-1, on day two of their spring season. The `Birds first match of the day was in the Butler Bubble at 10 a.m. and their second was in the West Indy Racquet Club at 4 p.m.
During the match against Butler, Zubkova played at No. 2 singles where she battled against Natali Jaimes in three-sets besting her, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Natalia Lech played at the No. 3 singles position and dominated Molly Casperson, 6-1, 6-2, while Franziska Steinhardt competed against Becky Jenkins at the No. 4 position beating her, 6-3, 6-0. At the No. 5 position was Ariane Maack who downed Cam Thompson, 6-1, 6-2. Aniko Kiss played at the No. 1 position against Gabriella Bobrowski but couldn't come out on-top with a win and lost, 6-4, 6-4. The No. 6 position, with Hannah Esker, saw the same result against Brittany Farmer and fell short, 6-3, 6-2.
In doubles play against Butler, Steinhardt and Zubkova played at the No. 1 position where they topped Molly Casperson and Becky Jenkins in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-2). Kiss and Lech played at the No. 2 position and lost against Gabriella Bobrowski and Brittany Farmer, 8-3. Esker and Peters clinched another point for the Redbirds as they downed Cam Thompson and Kahfii King at the No. 3 position, 8-0.
"Julia really carried our No. 1 doubles against Butler," said head coach Chris Hoover. "We had to come from behind to get that last point. She turned around and played a solid player in singles and then took care of business against IUPUI. She had a senior day."
Ending the day against IUPUI, the `Birds only saw one loss during singles play. Kiss played at the No. 1 position and after three rough sets she couldn't come out with a win in a nail-biter against Hunter Bullock, 6-4, 1-6, 10-8. Continuing their success through the rest of the match, Zubkova played at the No. 2 position and swept Shelby Hullett, 6-0, 6-2. Lech bested Alisha Cummings in the No. 3 position, 6-2, 6-1, while Steinhardt played at the No. 4 position downing Janel Seng, 6-2, 6-0. Wrapping up the singles play, Maack dominated Jesika Bays, 6-1, 6-0, while Esker swept Sondra Caputo in two straight sets, 6-0, 6-0.
The Redbirds continued their winning ways through doubles action. Playing at the No. 1 position was the duo of Steinhardt and Zubkova as they defeated Hunter Bullock and Shelby Hullet, 8-2. Another victory came in the No. 2 position when Kiss and Lech downed Janel Seng and Alisha Cummings, 8-1. The final success of the day was the Redbird pair of Esker and Peters at the No. 3 position when they closed the courts against Jesika Bays and Sondra Caputo, 8-0.
"We started off rough against Purdue but picked it up quickly in day two" said Hoover. "Playing two matches in one day is not easy. We did a nice job in the second match today and keeping our focus. I gave them some adversity with three matches in two days. We won what would we should've won and that's Butler and IUPUI."
The Illinois State women's tennis team will return to play on Friday, Feb. 5, when they travel to El Paso, Texas, to battle against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Texas, and Sam Houston State.
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