BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The pleasant weather on Friday led to blustery and cold conditions on Saturday, forcing the action at the 2023 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Tennis Championships inside to the Evergreen Racquet Club. In the first of two semifinal matches, top-seeded Illinois State rolled to a 4-0 win over No. 5 seed Murray State to advance to Sunday's championship game.
The sweep was the second of the year for the Redbirds over the Racers and set up tomorrow's championship match against No. 2 seed Drake, who advanced to the title match with a 4-2 win over Belmont in the other semifinal. The championship match will be a replay of last year's title match, which the Redbirds won in thrilling fashion against the Bulldogs in Des Moines, Iowa.
"We played a good match today against a tough Murray State team in a contest that was closer than the score suggests," ISU Head Coach Maja Kovacek said. "Tijana (Zlatanovic) led the way out there today and I'm proud of the way she's been playing. We've had so many tough matches against Drake in recent years. We know what to expect tomorrow and know it's going to take everything we have to win. We're just looking forward to the challenge of playing for the championship once again."
Murray State jumped out to an early advantage with a 6-0 sweep at No. 2 doubles, however the Redbirds picked up a victory at the No. 1 spot to tie things up as Tara Damnjanovic and Zlatanovic defeated Murray State's Emma Honore and Natalie Slezakova by a score of 6-1. That left thing up to court No. 3 to decide who would win the doubles point, and it was ISU's All-MVC duo of Elena Jankulovska and Nevena Kolarevic that came away with a 6-3 victory to secure the doubles point.
The score became 2-0 in favor of the Redbirds as singles began, with Jankulovska winning at No. 6 by default. Zlatanovic then extended the lead to 3-0 with a quick 6-2, 6-3 win over Sarah Bureau at No. 1 and the match was clinched by the 2023 MVC Freshman of the Year Kolarevic when she defeated Annika Pschorr at No. 3 by a score of 6-4, 6-3.
First serve for Sunday's MVC Championship match between the Redbirds and Bulldogs is set for 10 a.m. at the Evergreen Racquet Club. The winner of that contest will receive the MVC's automatic bid into the 2023 NCAA Championships field which will be announced on May 1.
FINAL SCORE: #1 Illinois State (4), #5 Murray State (0)
Doubles:Â
No. 1 Tara Damnjanovic/Tijana Zlatanovic (ILS) def. Emma Honore/Natalie Slezakova (MUR) 6-1
No. 2 Sarah Bureau/Annika Pschorr (MUR) def. Alexandra Abyasova/Silvia Pomarolli (ILS) 6-0
No. 3 Elena Jankulovska/Nevena Kolarevic (ILS) def. Paola Campigotto/Marit Kreugel (MUR) 6-3
Singles:
No. 1 Tijana Zlatanovic (ILS) def. Sarah Bureau (MUR) 6-2, 6-3
No. 2 Alexandra Abyasova (ILS) vs. Emma Honore (MUR) 6-3, 0-6, 3-0 (unfinished)
No. 3 Nevena Kolarevic (ILS) def. Annika Pschorr (MUR) 6-4, 6-3
No. 4 Tara Damnjanovic (ILS) vs. Natalie Slezakova (MUR) 4-6, 1-3 (unfinished)
No. 5 Silvia Pomarolli (ILS) vs. Paola Campigotto (MUR) 4-6, 4-3 (unfinished)
No. 6 Elena Jankulovska (ILS) def. Marit Kreugel (MUR) by default
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