NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's tennis team brought home some hardware after finishing the final matches at the Redbird Invite Sunday. The Redbirds went 4-1 in singles play and 1-2 in doubles play.
Junior Laura Fitzgerald took first place in the second flight over her teammate Ivon Mihaleva, while senior Jelena Vujicic took down IUPUI's Sarah Lounsberry 6-4, 6-1, to capture the consolation championship of the flight. Sophomore Tara Damnjanovic took third place in flight one, after defeating Northern Illinois' Maria Potsi 6-3, 3-6, 10-7. Senior Laura Arciniegas rounded out the singles wins for the 'Birds with a victory in the third flight.
"It felt very emotional to be back on the home court after being injured last year," said Jelena Vujicic about her consolation win. "I am happy with my performance on the last day here at the invite. It gives me a lot of confidence and excitement for the spring season."
Vujicic and Damnjanovic also took second in the doubles flight, after coming out on top over Mihaleva and freshman Elana Jankulovska in the semifinals but fell short to Washington State's Ates and Quadflieg in the championship.
"Today was a challenging day physically and I thought we handled that well and played very well in singles," said ISU Head Coach Maja Kovacek about the tournament. "It was a good way to finish off the fall season."
The Redbirds will be back in action to kick off the spring season on Friday, January 24, 2019 in Normal against Eastern Illinois.
