Facing off against the Mid-American Conference-leading University of Miami Redhawks (10-9, 9-1 MAC), NIU women’s tennis (21-6, 7-3 MAC) lost its last match of the regular season in a 4-3 loss.
“It was a tough match,” said NIU women’s tennis head coach Eric Burns. “Miami’s a top team for a reason. They have five seniors, they’re experienced, and they’ve been in this situation before. With that being said, I thought we fought really hard and gave ourselves chances to win. We just couldn’t get it done where we needed to get it done.”
Losses at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles put the Huskies behind early, before splitting singles matches in the defeat.
Redhawks seniors Emilia Valentinsson and Sara Zalukar made quick work of NIU senior Maria Dzemeshkevich and junior Nataly Ninova, taking a 6-1 set at No. 1.
Following soon after, Huskie junior Isabella Righi and freshman Lucia Yecora dropped a 6-4 set against Miami senior Catherine Denysiewicz-Slowek and freshman Malu Oliveria to concede the doubles point.
NIU’s No. 3 duo of senior Reagan Welch and junior Jenna Horne were up 5-4 against sophomore Lauren Loyce and senior Nishitha Saravanan when the match was concluded.
“We just had games we didn’t close out when we had leads,” Burns said of NIU’s doubles play. “With it being as close as it was already, you just can’t do that. You can’t blow 40-15 leads, not against them (Miami); you’re going to pay for it.”
Dzemeshkevich lost straight 6-2 sets against Denysiewicz-Slowek for the loss at No. 1 singles.
Also in straight sets, Righi fell to Joyce by a score of 6-3, 6-3.
A loss at No. 2 singles sealed the win for the Redhawks, when freshman Irmak Budak was defeated by Zalukar in 6-4, 6-4 sets.
Ninova got the Huskies on the board, winning 6-4, 6-1 sets against Valentinsson at No. 4 singles to earn her 21st singles win of the spring season.
Ending the regular season with only two singles losses, Yecora took 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) sets against Saravanan.
Horne rounded out the match with a win for the Huskies, taking a third set tiebreaker over Redhawks senior Sarah Dev. Losing a 7-6 (7-2) first set, Horne roared back in a 6-2 second set before routing Dev in a 1-0 (10-1) tiebreaker for the match win.
TOURNAMENT TIME
With the loss, NIU clinched the No. 2 seed in the MAC Championship Tournament. The Huskies take on the No. 3 seed and host of the tournament at 1 p.m. Thursday against the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.
In NIU’s last meeting with Toledo on March 28, the Huskies walked away with a 4-3 victory.
“There’s a level of familiarity there, but it’s also difficult sometimes to beat the same player twice,” Burns said of facing Toledo again. “Some pressure there, more self-imposed than anything. It’ll be a challenge, but we feel good about the matchups at the same time. We obviously have to play well, Toledo’s going to be playing at home, so we’ll have to show up for sure.”
