PEORIA, Ill. – On the second day of the Bradley Invitational, the Illinois State's women's tennis team earned four singles wins and three doubles wins in Peoria, Illinois.
"I'm really happy with today's performances," said head coach Maja Kovacek. "It wasn't easy out there in the heat, but we kept our energy up and delivered in some close matches, especially in doubles at the end of the day."
Veronika Golanova dominated her opponent, Srishti Slariafrom from Eastern Illinois, in the flight B semifinals, only giving up two games in the matchup, 6-0, 6-2. Also in the second flight, Jana Kustkova defeated Western Illinois' Courtney Lubbers in the singles flight B semifinals, 6-4, 6-1. Both advancing in flight B, Golanova and Kustkova will matchup in Sunday's final.
Newcomer Ivon Mihaleva won her second collegiate singles match against Bradley's Malini Wijesinghe in the flight C semifinals, 7-6, 6-2. Mihaleva takes on Northern Illinois' Abigail Dekkinga in the Sunday final.
Laura Fitzgerald took home her first collegiate singles win, in three sets from Bradley's Victoria Gonzalaez, 6-3, 3-6, 11-9. Fitzgerald will get a chance to take home another win when she faces Eastern Illinois' Abby Carpenter in the singles flight D third round.
Illinois State's Jelena Karla Vujicic fell to Western Illinois' Natalia Bravo, 7-6, 6-2, during the flight A consolation semifinal. Sunday, Vujicic takes on DePaul's Alina Kuzmenkova for seventh in flight A.
In doubles, ISU's Vujicic and Golanova topped Western Illinois' Natalia Bravo and Courtney Lubbers, 6-4 in the flight A semifinals. The pair moves on to play in the doubles flight A final against DePaul's Marija Jovicic and Lenka Antonijevic on Sunday.
Kustkova and Mihaleva defeated Eastern Illinois' R. Papvasilopoulos and Emily Pugachevsky, 6-3, in the flight A consolation semifinals. Sunday, the duo will face off against Northern Illinois' Abigail Dekkinga and Thisuri Molligoda in the consolation final.
For the third doubles win of the day, Fitzgerald and Valerija Gercar took down Northern Illinois' Brodie Walker and Maria Potsi in the flight B consolation semifinal, 6-3. Next, they will play for the flight B consolation final against Western Illinois' Laura Ballesteros and Maria Bessmertnaya.
The Redbirds will wrap up the Bradley Invitational Sunday at 9 a.m. in Peoria, Illinois.
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