Redbirds Improve To 5-0 In MVC Play With 6-1 Win At Bradley

PEORIA, Ill. – It was a rivalry match on Sunday in Peoria, as Illinois State traveled west on I-74 to take on Bradley in Missouri Valley Conference action. The trip was a favorable one for the Redbirds (12-6, 5-0 MVC) who picked up their fifth-straight win and seventh in their last nine matches overall following a 6-1 defeat of the Braves (7-10, 2-3 MVC) at the Markin Tennis Courts.

"I'm really happy with how we handled ourselves right from the beginning today against Bradley," ISU head coach Maja Kovacek said. "It was our first conference match outdoors and we handled the elements very well to pick up the victory."

It was a clean sweep of the doubles action for the Redbirds, as the No. 1 tandem of Tijana Zlatanovic and Tara Damnjanovic and the No. 2 duo Alexandra Abysova and Nevena Kolarevic each picked up 6-4 wins over the Braves. The No. 3 squad of Elena Jankulovska and Nevena Kolarevic also rolled to a 6-0 victory as the Redbirds took the early advantage.

In singles action, Zlatanovic, Abyasova, Damnjanovic and Pomarolli each rolled to straight set wins in relatively easy fashion. Jankulovska had to battle in her match at No. 6 after winning the first set but dropping the second to Bradley's Madi Rogers. However, she rallied for the second match in a row to win the tiebreaker 10-4 to pick up the sixth and final point for ISU.a

The Redbirds return to action next weekend for a pair of Valley road matches, beginning on Friday at UIC and finishing up on Saturday at Valparaiso.

FINAL SCORE: Illinois State (6), Bradley (1)

Doubles: 
No. 1 Tara Damnjanovic/Tijana Zlatanovic (ILS) def. Madalena Andrade/Kirstin Hailey (BU) 6-4
No. 2 Alexandra Abyasova/Silvia Pomarolli (ILS) def. Anna Belogliadova/Maria Bezmenova (BU) 6-4
No. 3 Elena Jankulovska/Nevena Kolarevic (ILS) def. Alexandra Hildreth/Mariia Pukhina (BU) 6-0

Singles:
No. 1 Tijana Zlatanovic (ILS) def. Anna Belogliadova (BU) 6-0, 6-2
No. 2 Alexandra Abyasova (ILS) def. Mariia Pukhina (BU) 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 Kirstin Hailey (BU) def. Nevena Kolarevic (ILS) 2-5 (won by retirement)
No. 4 Tara Damnjanovic (ILS) def. Maria Bezmenova (BU) 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 Silvia Pomarolli (ILS) def. Madalena Andrade (BU) 6-0, 6-0
No. 6 Elena Jankulovska (ILS) def. Madi Rogers (BU) 6-1, 4-6, 10-4

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