PEORIA, Ill. – The Illinois State women's tennis team is 7-1 in doubles and 12-3 in singles through Saturday's competition to combine for a 19-4 overall record on day two of three at the Bradley Invitational.
"We started off well in doubles and continued to be solid throughout," head coach Maja Kovacek said. "We will need to be aggressive and very active at the net in the final rounds tomorrow."
The Redbirds went 3-0 in doubles play Saturday morning, with all three doubles teams advancing to Sunday's final round. In flight A Doubles, Kadi Ilves and Marcia Tere-Apisah defeated Leshia Gadacz and Hanna Pangestu of Chicago State, 8-3, in Saturday's semifinal round. Ilves and Tere-Apisah will play Purdue's Claudia Escribens and Grace Schaffer in the A Flight Doubles finals Sunday.
Veronika Golanova and Jana Kustkova topped Ariel Dechter and Irinka Toidze of Bradley, 8-3, Saturday morning. The duo will advance to the A Flight Doubles consolation championships where they will face Rachel Kim and Courtney Warren of the University of Chicago on Sunday.
In the B Flight Doubles semifinals, ISU twosome Chanel Scudiero and Catherine Shulman triumphed over Alexa Brandt and Malini Wijesinghe of Bradley, 8-3. Scudiero and Shulman will compete against Bradley's Alejandra de Lasa and Ashley Thai in the B Flight Doubles finals, scheduled for Sunday.
Four Redbirds also qualified for Sunday's singles final round: Tere-Apisah, Ilves, Scudiero and Gercar.
"We played some tight singles matches today and I was happy with how we handled the pressure, winning all four match tie breakers," Kovacek said. "We definitely improved our play from yesterday which was our main goal."
In A Flight singles, Golanova bested Dechter of Bradley, 4-6, 6-3, 10-5. Tere-Apisah beat Purdue's Escribens, 7-5, 6-3, and she went on to win against Alexa Brandt of Bradley, 6-2, 6-1. Tere-Apisah will move on to play Sara Sherif of IUPUI in the A Flight consolation championships on Sunday.
In B Flight singles action, Ilves topped Hanna Pangestu of Chicago State, 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 and Jasmine Lee of the University of Chicago, 4-6, 6-2, 10-6. Scudiero won against Western's Maria Bessmertnaya in two games, 6-4, 6-2. Scudiero has an overall singles record of 2-0 through two days of tournament play. Scudiero and Ilves will face each other in the B Flight Championships on Sunday.
"Today was a solid second day at the tournament," Scudiero said. "I was happy with how Catherine and I played doubles and with my singles matches. In singles, I was able to play my game-style more and felt like I executed well."
In C Flight Singles, Valerija Gercar defeated Bryttish Burts of Chicago State, 6-2, 6-0, and Bradley's Julie Martin, 3-6, 7-6, 10-5. Gercar will compete against Chicago State's Leshia Gadacz Sunday in the C Flight Singles championship.
The Bradley Invitational concludes Sunday at the Markin Tennis Courts, with the doubles championship matches beginning at 10 a.m. followed by the singles championships at 11 a.m. For updates throughout the tournament, follow ISU women's tennis on Twitter: @RedbirdWTEN.
Illinois State Results
A Flight Doubles
Kadi Ilves/Marcia Tere-Apisah (Illinois State) def. Leshia Gadacz/Hanna Pangestu (Chicago State), 8-3
Kadi Ilves/Marcia Tere-Apisah will play Claudia Escribens/Grace Schaffer (Purdue) in the A Flight Doubles finals Sunday.
Veronika Golanova/Jana Kustkova (Illinois State) def. Ariel Dechter/Irinka Toidze (Bradley), 8-3
Veronika Golanova/Jana Kustkova will play Rachel Kim/Courtney Warren (University of Chicago) in the A Flight Doubles consolation finals Sunday.
B Flight Doubles
Chanel Scudiero/Catherine Shulman (Illinois State) def. Alexa Brandt/Malini Wijesinghe (Bradley), 8-5
Chanel Scudiero/Catherine Shulman will play Alejandra de Lasa/Ashley Thai (Bradley) in the B Flight Doubles finals Sunday.
A Flight Singles
Veronika Golanova (Illinois State) def. Arial Dechter (Bradley), 4-6,6-3,10-5
Ariana Iranpour (University of Chicago) def. Veronika Golanova (Illinois State), 6-0, 6-3
Marcia Tere-Apisah (Illinois State) def. Claudia Escribens (Purdue), 7-5, 6-3
Marcia Tere-Apisah (Illinois State) def. Alexa Brandt (Bradley), 6-2, 6-1
Marcia Tere-Apisah will play Sara Sherif (IUPUI) in the A Flight Singles consolation finals Sunday.
B Flight Singles
Kadi Ilves (Illinois State) def. Hanna Pangestu (Chicago State), 4-6, 6-3, 10-7
Kadi Ilves (Illinois State) def. Jasmine Lee (University of Chicago), 4-6, 6-2, 10-6
Kadi Ilves will play Chanel Scudiero (Illinois State) in the B Flight Singles finals Sunday.
Chanel Scudiero (Illinois State) def. Maria Bessmertnaya (Western), 6-4, 6-2
Chanel Scudiero will play Kadi Ilves (Illinois State) in the B Flight Singles finals Sunday.
Aimee Manfredo (Bradley) def. Catherine Shulman (Illinois State), 6-1, 6-3
C Flight Singles
Valerija Gercar (Illinois State) def. Bryttish Burts (Chicago State), 6-2, 6-0
Valerija Gercar (Illinois State) def. Julie Martin (Bradley), 3-6, 7-6, 10-5
Valerija Gercar will play Leshia Gadacz (Chicago State) in the C Flight Singles finals Sunday.
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