RESULTS
PEORIA, Ill. – The Illinois State's women's tennis team earned three singles wins and one doubles win on day one of the Bradley Invitational in Peoria, Illinois.
"We were obviously rusty in doubles today and it showed that it was our first tournament," head coach Maja Kovacek said. "I'm looking for us to be a lot more solid tomorrow. I was happy with the effort in singles. We came back from a set down in the three matches we won and played our best tennis in those match tie breakers."
Illinois State's Veronika Golanova defeated DePaul's Marija Jovicic in the flight B quarterfinals, 3-6, 6-4, 10-7. After dropping the first set, she fought back to win the second and third, earning her first win of the season.
Jana Kustkova took her first singles victory of the season over Bradley's Natalia Barbery, in the flight B quarterfinals, 6-3, 3-6, 14-12. Kustkova will face Western Illinois' Courtney Lubbers in the semifinal round.
Kovacek stated, "Jana came back from 2-8 down to win hers 14-12 against an opponent from Bradley, showing a lot of heart and determination."
Freshman Ivon Mihaleva fought back from behind to earn her first collegiate singles win in three sets, against Eastern Illinois' Emily Pugachevsky, 4-6, 6-1, 10-5. Mihaleva moves on to Bradley's Malini Wijesinghe, Saturday in the flight C semifinals.
Jelena Karla Vujicic fell short to Eastern Illinois' R. Papavasilopoulos in the flight A quarterfinal, 6-4,6-0. Saturday, Vujicic will take on Natalia Bravo from Western Illinois in the flight A consolation semifinal.
Redbird's Laura Fitzgerald dropped her opening contest to Western Illinois' Cary Milanes in flight D, 6-4, 2-6, 8-10. She will play Bradley's Victoria Gonzalez in flight D singles round two.
Golanova and Vujicic teamed up and earned a doubles win over Eastern Illinois University's Stella Cliffe and Karla Contreras, 6-4. The pair advanced to the flight A semifinal round and are set to face Western Illinois' Natalia Bravo and Courtney Lubbers.
Kustkova and Mihaleva also competed in the first flight, but fell short to DePaul's Lenka Antonijevic and Marija Jovicic, 6-3. The tandem will take on Eastern Illinois's Emily Pugachevsky and R. Papavasilopoulos in the consolation semifinals.
In the flight B, Fitzgerald and Valerija Gercar came up short to Eastern Illinois' Claire Marin and Srishti Slaria in the quarterfinal, 6-3. The duo will take on Maria Posti and Brodie Walker of Northern Illinois in the consolation round.
The Redbirds return to action at the Bradley Invitational, beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday.
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