NIU women’s tennis went 29-3 in 32 matches played during the Huskie Invitational, hosted by NIU this weekend. Players from University of St. Thomas, Marquette University, Indiana University of Indianapolis and Lewis University joined NIU players at the Chick Evans Field House for five flights of singles matches and two doubles flights.
NIU women’s tennis head coach Eric Burns reflected on the Huskies’ success.
“We had a lot of really good performances this tournament and even in some of the matches where we weren’t as sharp, we really fought through, kept it close, battled and showed resilience,” said Burns via NIU Athletics. “The doubles was dominant so we felt really good about that, even with using some different pairings than the last tournament.”
The Huskies were undefeated in 11 doubles matches, while losing only 3 singles matches over the course of the tournament.
Flight one was all NIU, seeing shared titles in both doubles and singles. Senior Erika Dimitriev and junior Nataly Ninova, as well as freshman Lucia Yecora and junior Jenna Horne shared the doubles title for flight one after being the final two remaining duos in the bracket.
Also sharing the title, Dimitriev and senior Maria Dzemeshkevich were the victors of flight one singles matches.
Flight two also saw victories for the Huskies. Dzemeshkevich and senior Reagan Welch defeated St. Thomas senior Regina Talavera and graduate student Jannah ElNemr in a 6-2 set. Ninova won the singles bracket for flight 2 after defeating Lewis senior Sofiia Vdovychenko in two straight 6-3, 6-4 sets.
The last title for the Huskies came in the Black Flight of matches, when freshman Irmak Budak bested Marquette freshman Elena Duva in dominant 6-3, 6-0 sets.
“We’re happy (with the fall season) but know there is some work to do still,” Burns said via NIU Athletics. “We had good success overall, had our new players get a lot of matches and learned a lot as far as what to expect and what we can do on the doubles court. We have a good grasp of what that line-up should look like and can look like.”
The Huskie Invitational rounded out the fall season for the Huskies. NIU women’s tennis returns Jan. 10 at the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston.
