ANN ARBOR, Mich. – It was another hard-fought day of action from Ann Arbor as the Illinois State women's tennis continued their time at the 2022 ITA Midwest Regionals, hosted by the University of Michigan.
"We had a good showing in doubles today in spite of tough losses to power 5 teams," ISU head coach Maja Kovacek said. "Our doubles teams are playing together for the first time, and I thought they handled that very well. They did a great job picking up those first-round wins."
For the first time in the tournament, doubles would be in action. ISU's Tijana Zlatanovic and Alexandra Abyasova would win 8-2 over Chicago State's pairing of Cali Fuller and Katarina Dukic. This set up ISU to face Northwestern's Kiley Rabjohns and Aino Alkio.
Once the second-round action got underway, it was Rabjohns and Alkio holding control of the match throughout, as they ended up taking the 8-5 decision to move on.
The other doubles pairing in action for ISU would be Silvia Pomarolli and Nevena Kolrevic as they faced Yauch/Franz from Cleveland State. The freshman pairing would go on and win 8-6, advancing to play Yashna Yellayi and Rylie Hanford of Notre Dame in the next round.
Despite trailing 7-3 at one moment against Yellayi and Hanford, Pomarolli and Kolrevic would fight back to make it 7-6 before the Irish pairing held serve, taking the 8-6 win to move on in competition.
Then, Kolrevic was back in action, this time in singles play. Kiley Rabjohns of NU. Once in action, it was a strong showing from Kolrevic as she would defeat Rabjohns of NU 7-5, 6-2 and move onto the next round.
"I'm really proud of Nevena. She played with a ton of confidence from start to finish," Kovacek said. "It's exactly what you want from your players when you play this tournament."
In consolation singles, Alexandra Abyasova would pick up a win over Eastern Michigan's Vidisha Reddy by a final of 6-3, 6-3.
The ITA Midwest Regionals roll on as Saturday's action will start at 9 a.m. with the doubles main draw round of 16 followed by main draw action in singles.
Day 2 Results
Singles
Nevena Kolrevic (ISU) def. Kiley Rabjohns (NU) 7-5, 6-2
Alexandra Abyasova (ISU) Vidisha Reddy (EMU) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
Zlatanovic/Abyasova (ISU) def. Fuller/Dukic (CSU) 8-2
Pomarolli/Kolrevic (ISU) def. Yauch/Franz (CSU) 8-6
Yellayi/Hanford (ND) def. Pomarolli/Kolrevic (ISU) 8-6
Rabjohns/Alkio (NU) def. Zlatanovic/Abyasova (ISU) 8-5
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