NIU women’s tennis (5-4) sailed past both Western Illinois University (1-7), 7-0, and Bradley University (2-6), 4-0, without dropping a match. 

The Huskies did not lose a match against Western Illinois, but one match went unfinished. 

In doubles, junior Erika Dimitriev and sophomore Nataly Ninova defeated Western Illinois junior Paige Grice and sophomore Lara Diniz de Souza in a 6-1 match. Senior Anastasia Rakita and junior Reagan Welch also saw a 6-1 victory against freshman pair Kate Lauger and Anna-Evelina Trush. 

In the only unfinished match against Western Illinois, senior Diana Lukyanova and sophomore Isabella Righi were down 1-5 against seniors Agatha Carbonell and Maria Rybka when the match was ruled unfinished. 

The Huskies swept singles matches, all in two sets. 

Junior Angelica Ross bested freshman Aubrey Brumbaugh in 6-1, 6-0 sets. Welch defeated Trush in 6-1 and 6-2 sets. Righi won in 6-1, 6-2 sets against Rybka. In two 6-1 sets, Ninova got the win over Carbonell. Lukyanova beat Grice in two 6-3 sets. After a 7-5 first set, Dimitriev came back and defeated Diniz de Souza in a 6-0 second set. 

The success continued when the team traveled to Bradley University, where four matches were ruled unfinished. 

Righi and Lukyanova defeated Bradley senior Maria Bezmenova and sophomore Mariia Pukhina in a 6-3 set. Sophomore Jenna Horne and Welch bested sophomores Anna Belogliadova and Alexandra Hildreth in a 7-6 (7-4) set. 

Dimitriev and Ninova were up 6-5 against Bradley duo freshman Andra Sirbu and junior Kirstin Hailey when the match was ruled unfinished. 

In singles, three matches were won by the Huskies and three were unfinished. 

Lukyanova defeated Belogliadova in 6-3, 6-1 sets. Ninova won against Hailey in 6-4, 6-2 sets. After losing her first set to Sirbu, Welch won the next two to win the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. 

Dimitriev won the first set against Bezmenova 7-6 (7-3) and was down 4-5 in the second set when the match was left unfinished. Righi was down 0-1 against Pukhina when the match ended, and Horne’s match against Hildreth was also ruled unfinished. 

NIU women’s tennis plays their next match at 10 a.m. Sunday at the H-F Racquet & Fitness Club in Homewood Illinois against Chicago State University. At 5:50 p.m. Sunday, the Huskies travel to the Combe Tennis Center in Evanston against Northwestern University.  Live stats will be available via SideArm Stats.