EAST LANSING, Mich. – It was a close neutral court match Saturday afternoon at Michigan State between Illinois State and Xavier that could have gone either way, but Xavier (6-4) was able to take some key points when needed and defeated the Redbirds (5-2) by a score of 5-2 at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.
"This one is a hard one to get past," ISU head coach Maja Kovacek said. "We definitely had opportunities in both doubles and singles to get to those four points we needed. We will have to dig deep and show a lot of resiliency tomorrow to play well enough to beat Michigan State."
The doubles action was well contested, with each team winning a match leaving it to the third and deciding match to win the point. The No. 3 team of Elena Jankulovska and Nevena Kolarevic took down the Xavier duo of Paulina Franco Martinessi and Abigail Siminski by a score of 6-4 to even things up, but the Musketeers won 6-4 and 7-5 at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots respectively to take the early doubles point.
In singles action, the Redbirds picked up a victory at the No. 2 spot from Alexandra Abyasova over Xavier's Kat Lyman in straight sets 6-2, 7-6 and also earned a point from Tara Damnjanovic at the No. 4 spot in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. However, tough three-set defeats at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots doomed the Redbird comeback and the Musketeers won the final four singles matches to come away with the 5-2 win.
The Redbirds are back in action tomorrow against host Michigan State, with first serve set for 10 a.m. at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.
FINAL SCORE: Xavier (5), Illinois State (2)
Doubles:Â
No. 1 Kat Lyman/Abby Nugent (XAV) def. Tara Damnjanovic/Tijana Zlatanovic (ILS) 6-4
No. 2 Imani Graham/Blessing Nwaozuzu (XAV) def. Alexandra Abyasova/Silvia Pomarolli 7-5
No. 3 Elena Jankulovska/Nevena Kolarevic (ILS) def. Paulina Franco Martinessi/Abigail Siminski (XAV) 6-4
Singles:
No. 1 Imani Graham (XAV) def. Tijana Zlatanovic (ILS) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
No. 2 Alexandra Abyasova (ILS) def. Kat Lyman (XAV) 6-2, 7-6 (3)
No. 3 Abby Nugent (XAV) def. Nevena Kolarevic (ILS) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 Tara Damnjanovic (ILS) def. Abigail Siminski (XAV) 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 Blessing Nwaozuzu (XAV) def. Silvia Pomarolli (ILS) 6-4, 6-2
No. 6 Paulina Franco Martinessi (XAV) def. Elena Jankulovska (ILS) 6-3, 6-2
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