ISU vs. Purdue Results 
Jan. 30, 2011
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State women's tennis team had a rough start to their 2010-11 spring season Sunday as they were swept 7-0 by No. 50 Purdue in West Lafayette Ind., at the Schwartz Tennis Center.
Freshman Phyllis Tigges made her Redbird debut at the No. 1 doubles position with partner Aniko Kiss losing to No. 13 Jennifer Rabot and Mara Schmidt, 8-2. On court two, Redbirds Ariane Maack and Carolina Abello fell to Gisella Pere and Anna Dushkina, 8-3, while the team of Hannah Esker and Heather Nisbet lost to No. 68 Bhavani Tirumurti and Imogen Golder, 8-3.
Although the `Birds were unable to clinch a doubles victory, head coach Chris Hoover was overall pleased with the results.
"Our doubles teams did a good job today," said Hoover. "Although the scores don't reflect it, we actually played well. I was especially pleased with Ariane and Carolina; they had a solid match. Even though they lost, they still managed to play some great tennis."
All six singles matches were also dominated by Purdue. However, after losing 6-1 in the first set, Abello had an amazing comeback in the second set winning four games but ultimately losing, 6-4, to Dushkina in the fourth spot. In other play, Kiss was defeated by Rabot at the No. 1 position, 6-1, 6-1, while at the No. 2 position, Tigges lost to Schmidt, 6-1, 6-1. Tirumurti beat Maack, 6-2, 6-1, in third singles with Esker losing to Golder at the No. 5 position, 6-2, 6-4. Rounding out singles play, Phillips lost to Pere, 6-0, 6-0, in the sixth spot.
With the far from favored results, Hoover believes that although the outcome was not in Illinois State's favor, the team has something to be proud of today.
"Today wasn't all that bad," said Hoover. "We weren't able to come away with a win but we stepped it up and played a few great matches. We have a lot of good skill for a young team and today we were solid which is really encouraging for everyone. This match can be thought of as a learning experience. We got to play tennis against a great team and really see what we're made of. I think this team is going to be pretty good once we start getting back into the swing of things."
The `Birds will continue their spring season as they travel to Lincoln, Neb., Saturday and Sunday to compete against Wyoming and Nebraska.
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