March 28, 2010
Final Stats
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State women's tennis team claimed their second victory of the weekend in a close match against Saint Louis, 5-2, on Sunday March 28. The Redbirds first defeated Bradley, 7-0, on Friday and carried their momentum through the rest of the weekend. The win over Saint Louis marks Illinois State's eleventh win of the season and they now hold an 11-4 record on the year. Sophomore Hannah Esker won all four of her matches this weekend, including a pair of doubles matches.
Getting Illinois State off on the right foot was Esker and Natalia Lech who teamed against Mia Elmore and Sarah Septien at the No. 3 doubles court, claiming an 8-2 victory. Sealing the doubles point for Illinois State was Julia Zubkova and Franziska Steinhardt at the No. 1 court with an 8-2 win over Casey Miller and Jenny Nalepa. With the win, Zubkova and Steinhardt hold a 10-3 dual doubles record on the spring season.
Unable to sweep doubles play, the Redbird duo of Aniko Kiss and Ariane Maack fell to Hailee Elmore and Kasia Tomalak at the No. 2 court, 8-4.
"It was a good win today and I thought everyone played well, "said head coach Chris Hoover. "Aniko's opponent was hard and she played well in her second set. Franziska had a huge win as well as Julia. Julia is a warrior and she plays like a senior. I'm glad we got this match in before the heat of the conference because we needed another tight close match."
Once the Redbirds claimed three of the five singles matches they knew the victory was in their favor. Esker had her second singles victory of the weekend at the No. 6 court over Caitlin McKenna, 6-1, 6-2. The win improves Esker to a 12-3 dual singles record and marks her sixth win straight. Lech defeated Mia Elmore at the No. 4 position, 6-1, 6-0, while Steinhardt claimed a 7-5, 7-5, victory at the No. 2 court over Casey Miller.
Zubkova closed the courts in a two-hour tie-breaking win over Jenny Nalepa at the No. 3 court, 7-5, 4-6, 10-8.
Another two-hour tie-breaker came at the No. 5 singles court when Maack fell to Kasia Tomalak, 6-2, 6-6 (7-5). The No. 1 singles court also saw a loss when Kiss fell to Hailee Elmore, 6-2, 7-5.
Illinois State will be back to action Saturday April 3, when they host Evansville at the Evergreen Racquet Club. Play is set to begin at 1 p.m., weather permitting.
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