NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's tennis was greeted with near perfect weather for its annual Redbird Invitational this weekend, and the result was great performances throughout for the Redbirds as the three-day tournament came to an end Sunday at the Gregory Street Courts.
"We played competitive matches this weekend and picked up a lot of doubles wins," ISU head coach Maja Kovacek said. "I'm happy with how our upperclassman are leading the way out there and Tara and Tijana were impressive. Our freshmen are getting better with each match, and I'm really excited about our chances of picking up some individual championships next weekend."
As opposed to the first two days where a pair of doubles matches were played in each flight, just one 8-point pro set match was played on the final day. The Redbirds won all three of their matches, with Tijana Zlatanovic and Tara Damnjanovic earning an 8-5 win over the team of Hailey and Andrade from Bradley. Nevena Kolarevic and Elena Jankulovska also picked up a win by a score of 8-6 over the team of Ellis and Steven from Eastern Illinois. The final win came from Othilia Brodin and Silvia Pomarolli, who took down Rogers and Pukhina from Bradley, 8-2.
In singles action, Kolarevic took third place overall in Flight 1 after defeating Pukhina in straight sets 6-4, 6-0.
The Redbirds are back in action next weekend in Springfield, Missouri, for the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championship hosted by Missouri State. Action begins Friday, October 7, and runs through Sunday, October 9.
RESULTS:
Doubles:
Zlatanovic/Damnjanovic (ISU) def. Hailey/Andrade (BU) 8-5
Kolarevic/Jankulovska (ISU) def. Ellis/Steven (EIU) 8-6
Brodin/Pomarolli (ISU) def. Rogers/Pukhina (BU) 8-2
Flight 1 Singles:
Nevena Kolarevic (ISU) def. Mariia Pukhina (BU) 6-4, 6-0 (Third Place)
Anna Belogliadova (BU) def. Tijana Zlatanovic (ISU) 4-6, 7-5, 10-7
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