Jan. 29, 2012
Box Score
INDIANAPOLIS -
The Illinois State women's tennis team (1-1) welcomed back Carolina Abello and Ariane Maack Sunday against IUPUI with their first win of the spring season, 6-1. The Redbirds are coming off of a loss a Illinois, (7-0).
Head coach Chris Hoover is pleased with the progress the Redbirds have made, despite the injuries the team suffered in the 2010-2011 season.
"We're very pleased to have Carolina back," said Hoover. "She has to gain some match toughness to get back to her peak performance, but we're hopeful she'll be back to that level soon."
Despite not having engaged in match play since May 2011, Abello was defeated by a slim margin to Vanessa Whyte, 6-3, 7-5. Maack, who is also recovering from a shoulder injury, assisted newcomer Emmy Marx in overcoming IUPUI's Danielle Haefele and Shelby Hullett, 8-2. The Redbirds moved on to sweep doubles, adding on a victory from behind from Aniko Kiss and Phyllis Tigges, 8-4, as well as a win from of Hannah Esker and Heather Nisbet, 8-4.
"We played really well in doubles today," said Hoover. "Flight one doubles started off to a slow start, but Aniko and Phyllis came back to pull off a great win. They figured out what they needed to do to be successful, got competitive, and pulled out a great win."
In singles play, Kiss furthered her winning record by defeating her opponent in flight one, Alisha Cummings, 6-4, 6-0. Esker and Tigges built on the momentum from their doubles matches to defeat their opponents, with Esker beating Rachael Bridegroom in the No. 5 position, 6-2, 6-1, and Tigges defeating Shelby Hullet in flight two, 6-4, 6-3. Gabby Phillips defeated Jesika Bays, 6-2, 6-1, and Marx continued to showcase her addition to the roster with a flight three victory over Abbey Neff, 6-2, 6-0.
"These first two matches have been learning experiences," said Hoover. "I'm looking forward to the next several matches. Hopefully we can take something out of this one, combine it with what we learned from the Illinois match, and really knock our opponents out of the water."
The Redbirds return to the road on Saturday, Feb. 4 against Iowa in Iowa City at 12 p.m.
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