PEORIA, Ill. – The Illinois State women's tennis team started Missouri Valley Conference play with a victory by taking down Bradley, 5-2, Saturday afternoon.
"We had a great start in doubles today and kept the momentum going into singles," said Illinois State head coach Maja Kovacek. "We had some close first sets and did a great job playing the big points well. I'm proud of everyone's effort today, it was a challenge mentally to play with five players and we handled that in the best way possible."
In doubles competition, the Redbirds won two-out-of-three matches to claim the overall doubles point. No.1 partners Marcia Tere-Apisah and Jelena Karla Vujicic defeated Ashley Thai and Natalia Barbery, 6-1, while Gabriela Sprague and Valerija Gercar shutout Ariel Dechter and Aimee Manfredo, 6-0.
In singles play, Illinois State won four of six matches. Tere-Apisah defeated Dechter in two sets, 7-5, 6-1. Vujicic beat Alejandra de Lasa in three sets, 7-6(3), 7-6(8-6). Sprague, now playing in the No. 3 slot, took down Barbery in two sets, 6-3, 6-2. Gercar, also defeated her opponent, Malini Wijesinghe, in two sets, 7-5, 6-2. Freshman, Andrea Beneroso battled against Alexa Brandt, but fell after three sets, 0-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The Redbirds are now 7-8 overall and 1-0 in MVC play. Illinois State will continue MVC play by competing against Southern Illinois Saturday, April 8, at 1 p.m. in Carbondale, Illinois.
For live updates and more, follow Redbird Women's Tennis on Twitter: @RedbirdWTEN.
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