Though not all of the NIU women’s tennis team fared well this weekend at the Notre Dame Invitational, there were a few surprises.

“There were a lot of Big Ten teams at the tournament, and we did extremely well against them,” said coach Patty Groth. “We defeated most Purdue and Ohio State players they came up against.”

One surprise came in the No. 1 doubles flight. Svetlana Nedeljkovic and Sarah Murfey nearly knocked off the No. 20 doubles team in the country (Lindsey Nimmo and Mary Williams) from the University of Illinois.

“The girls had control of the match, but their emotions took over,” Groth said.

Another surprise was freshman Brenda Bowen’s victory over Steffanie Daniel from Ohio State in the No. 3 singles flight. Bowen ended up finishing seventh.

The Huskies will be hosting their own tournament from Oct. 18-20. Participating in the tournament will be SIU, Toledo, SIU-Edwardsville, St. Ambrose, and ISU.

“We would expect to do very well in every position in this tournament,” Groth said.

The Huskies have won two straight North Star Conference titles, and Groth expects a third.

“We are a step above everyone else in our conference,” Groth said. “Our biggest competition will come from Akron.”