March 15, 2012
Results
HONOLULU, Hawaii -
Illinois State sophomore Gabby Phillips prevented a shutout at the hands of No. 58-ranked Hawaii with a gritty 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) singles win at the No. 6 spot, as the Redbirds fell to the Rainbow Wahine, 6-1, Thursday at the UH Tennis Complex.
"Gabby's been overdue for a win like that," head coach Chris Hoover. "She just stayed with it, never gave up and didn't get down on herself. In the tie-breaker, I felt like her opponent pressed a little bit and Gabby just stayed calm. It was good, hard-fought win."
Hawaii scored the first point of the match after sweeping all three doubles spots. Aniko Kiss and Phyllis Tigges dropped an 8-7 (7-4) battle at No. 1 doubles, while Emmie Marx and Ariane Maack fell at the No. 2 spot, 8-2. Hannah Esker and Stefanie Youngberg were blanked at the No. 3 position, 8-0.
Kiss fell at No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-0, to Barbara Pinterova, while Marx dropped a 6-4, 6-1 decision in the second spot to Hawaii's Katarina Poljakova. Tigges overcame a slow start against Jamie Pawid and challenged in the second set, but dropped a 6-1, 7-5 decision at No. 3 singles.
Carolina Abello was defeated by Hawaii's Martina Kostalova, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 4 singles and Esker suffered a 7-5, 6-4 loss to Xenia Suworowa in the fifth spot.
Illinois State will close out its Hawaiian trip Friday, when the Redbirds face Hawaii-Pacific, which is ranked No. 5 at the NCAA Division II level, at the UH-Manoa Tennis Complex. The match is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. CDT.
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