Ending its record breaking season, NIU women’s tennis fell in a 4-1 match against the University at Buffalo to concede the Mid-American Conference championship.
“It’s not that we played bad tennis,” said NIU women’s tennis head coach Eric Burns. “Buffalo came to play. They upset the top seed in the semi’s and they were the hot team. We did everything we could to stay in the matches and battle, but in the end we just didn’t have enough.”
Starting with leads in doubles matches, the Huskies conceded the doubles point to give the Bulls an early advantage.
NIU junior Isabella Righi and freshman Lucia Yecora swept Bulls junior Deanne Choo and freshman Blanca Berges in a 6-0 set at No. 2 to begin doubles play.
NIU’s No. 3 duo of juniors Reagan Welch and Jenna Horne fell to Buffalo freshmen Liv Roestel and Marta Giglio in a 6-3 defeat.
With the doubles point open for taking, senior Maria Dzemeshkevich and junior Nataly Ninova dropped a close 7-6 (8-6) match at No. 1 singles.
Ninova earned the only point for the Huskies at No. 4 singles, taking straight 6-2 sets against sophomore Julia Laspro to level the score.
At No. 6 singles, Horne fell in 6-3, 6-2 sets against Berges before freshman Irmak Budak dropped 6-4, 6-4 sets against graduate student Jagmeel Kaur at No. 2 singles to put the Huskies down 3-1.
With Righi and Roestel battling in a close second set, the MAC title was decided at No. 5 singles. After losing the first set 6-4, Righi’s 7-5 second set loss was enough to the Bulls to seal the championship.
The No. 1 and No. 3 singles matches were in a third set when the match was decided and the matches were abandoned.
Dzemeshkevich was up 2-1 against senior Esmee Andresen after 7-5, 3-6 sets at the conclusion of the match, while Yecora forced a third set against freshman Maria Glowacka at No. 3. Losing a 7-6 (7-5) first set, Yecora dominated the second set 6-2 and was leading 2-1 in the third at the end.
“We just didn’t go away in any match,” Burns said. “It would have been really easy after the doubles to just kind of go away, that was a heartbreaker. We showed some resolve and kept fighting. Even when it was down to three courts and we were down 3-1 trying to stay in there. They were giving it their all to try and stay out there as long as they could and fight. With a little bit of luck here and there, it could have been a scenario where we fought back and got the match.”
Ninova and Yecora were both named to the all-tournament team, with Ninova winning both of her singles matches.
“There’s nothing to be down about,” Burns said. “We won’t hang our heads down low. We’ll keep our heads held high and we’ll keep fighting.”
