April 10, 2011
NORMAL, Ill. -
Final Stats 
The Illinois State women's tennis team (6-9, 2-1 MVC) suffered its first Missouri Valley Conference loss of the season falling to Northern Iowa, 5-2, Sunday at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill.
The Redbirds were down early after failing to gain the doubles point, winning just one of three matches. Carolina Abello and Heather Nisbet teamed up at the No. 3 position losing to Krissy Lankelma and Jessica Kunzelmann, 8-1, while Ariane Maack and Hannah Esker were defeated by Lara Okicki and Chelsea Moore at the No. 2 spot, 8-2. Aniko Kiss and Phyllis Tigges were victorious against Laia Gonzalez and Phoebe Walker at the No. 1 position, 8-6.
In singles play, Esker lost to Kunzelmann at the No. 4 position, 6-3, 6-1. Abello was matched against Okicki at the No. 3 position losing her first set 6-0, and choosing to retire during the second set due to a knee injury, increasing the Panthers lead to 3-0. Gabby Phillips took on Lankelma at the No. 6 spot losing, 6-4, 6-1, while Tigges was beat by Gonzalez at the No. 2 position, 6-4, 6-4. The only Redbirds able to come away with a win were Aniko Kiss at the No. 1 position defeating Walker, 7-5, 6-2, and Stefanie Youngberg winning against Moore in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
Head coach Chris Hoover was impressed with the two singles wins.
"Stefanie and Aniko did a great job (Sunday)," said Hoover. "Stefanie doesn't normally play our No. 5 position, but we've had some injuries and needed to put her in. I knew that her game style and the fact that we were indoors was good for her. It was a good three set win. Aniko probably played the best I've seen her play this year, not just in singles but also in doubles. Our No. 1 doubles team is really starting to mature and play well."
Overall, Hoover was disappointed with Sunday's outcome and is hoping the team is ready for more conference action next weekend against Creighton and Wichita State.
"(Sunday) was just okay," Hoover said. "I'm disappointed with the way our doubles played, with the exception of the No. 1 team, same with our No. 4 and No. 6 singles. We need to keep improving instead of taking steps back. Next weekend is going to be tough. Wichita is obviously the team to beat and we need to take care of business with Creighton so that we're where we want to be in the conference."
Illinois State will travel to Omaha, Neb., Friday to take on Creighton at 12:30 p.m. CDT and to Wichita, Kan., to face Wichita State Sunday at 9 a.m. CDT.
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