April 17, 2011
WICHITA, Kan. -
Final Stats 
The Illinois State women's tennis team suffered a tough loss in Wichita, Kan., Sunday against conference foe Wichita State, 7-0. The Redbirds are now 7-10 overall with a 3-2 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play.
"(Sunday) wasn't a good day for us," said head coach Chris Hoover. "We didn't close any of our matches the way we wanted to."
The `Birds started the day losing all three doubles matches, helping the Shockers to a 1-0 lead early on. Aniko Kiss and Phyllis Tigges lost against Montse Blasco Fernandez and Veronika Blaskova, 8-4, at the No. 1 position. At the No. 2 spot, Ariane Maack and Hannah Esker were defeated by Lutfiana Budiharto and Raphaela Zotter, 8-2, while Carolina Abello and Heather Nisbet were beat, 8-7 (7-1), at the No. 3 position by Delia Damaschin and Carla Venticinque.
In singles play, Budiharto defeated Kiss, 6-3, 6-1, at the No. 1 position with Tigges losing to Zotter in three sets, 4-6, 7-5, 10-6, at the No. 2 position. Stefanie Youngberg lost to Blaskova 7-5, 6-1, at the No. 3 spot while Abello was beat 6-3, 6-2, by Venticinque at the No. 4 position. Rounding out singles action Hannah Esker was defeated by Damaschin, 6-2, 6-0, at the No. 5 spot with Gabby Phillips losing to Blasco, 5-7, 6-2, 10-5, at the No. 6 position.
Hoover was overall disappointed with Sunday's outcome.
"We had a shot (Sunday)," said Hoover, "but we didn't finish any of our matches. We knew Wichita was going to be tough but we still came out starting slow and we didn't have any confidence. We need to pick it up if we want a shot in the valley tournament."
Illinois State will continue conference play against Southern Illinois and Evansville Friday and Saturday. Friday's match against the Salukis will begin at 2 p.m. CDT, in Carbondale, Ill., with Saturday's match against the Purple Aces starting at 1 p.m. CDT, in Evansville, Ind.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
