The Northern Illinois women’s tennis team hosted Air Force Academy, Chicago State University, Lewis University and the University of South Dakota, at Chick Evans Field House for the Huskie Indoor Invitational this past weekend.

The Huskies competed in 38 total matches over a three-day span, consisting of 24 singles and 14 doubles matches. NIU won 11 of those singles matches, and six of the doubles, putting up a good fight, said NIU Head Coach Eric Burns.

“We battled hard this weekend against a good field and had a lot of close matches,” Burns said in an Oct. 31 NIU Athletics news release. “We had trouble closing out some of the tight matches all weekend; we also struggled a little in doubles, so we need to continue to work on these areas.”

The best finish for the Huskies came from freshman Angelica Ross, who won the singles No. 4 title going 3-0 over the weekend. Ross won her first match 6-3, 6-1, over Lewis sophomore Grace Sueflohn. Ross then defeated Air Force’s freshman Andrea Le 3-6, 7-6, to advance to the championship. 

Ross then battled against Air Force’s Isabella Flodin in a three-set match for the championship. Ross took the first set 6-1. Flodin won the second set 6-4, pushing the match to a 10-point match tie-breaker in lieu of a full set. Ross would go on to score 10 of the 11 available points in the set to win the title. 

Freshman Reagan Welch finished in second place against Air Forces’ sophomore Hailey Stelse 1-6, 6-2, 11-9. Welch lost in heartbreaking fashion, also taking her match to a 10-point tie-breaker, eventually losing 11-9. 

Burns was encouraged by his team’s level of play, but knows there are areas to improve on. 

“We can have a solid season, but we have got to do a better job of believing in our games and play more aggressively on the big points,” he said in the news release. “I’m excited to get back to work and prepare for Drake next weekend.”

NIU returns to action next weekend for the Drake Invitational, the three-day tournament kicks off Friday, Nov. 5.