DeKALB — The NIU women’s tennis team split their matches on the day as they defeated the Roosevelt University Lakers 7-0, but fell to the Bowling Green State University Falcons 3-4 to lose their first conference game.

Match 1

The first match of the day did not go as planned as the Falcons were able to edge out the win against the Huskies. 

Doubles: 1-0 BGSU

In the first doubles match of the day, the duo of Erika Dimitriev and Anastasia Rakita defeated BGSU sophomores Selina Karg and Hannah Neuman 6-4.

The Huskies then dropped the next two matches as Diana Lukyanova and freshman Reagan Welch fell to BGSU junior Ionna Tsadari and senior Laura Maia Silveira 7-6. Fernanda Naves and Christy Robinson lost to BGSU freshmen Maru Poppe and Annika Vetter 6-4.

Singles: 3-3

The Huskies were unable to get anything going in the first two singles matches of the day as Lukyanova fell to Tsadari 7-6, 6-1 and Dimitriev lost to Karg 7-6, 7-5. 

However, the Huskies turned a corner in their next three matches as Rakita defeated Vetter 6-4, 7-6. Welch took care of Poppe 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 and freshman Angelica Ross knocked off Maia Silveira 6-3, 6-3 to tie the teams at 3-3.

Unfortunately, Robinson was unable to complete the comeback as she fell to Neuman 6-0, 6-2 giving Bowling Green the victory.

Thoughts from Coach Burns

“We had three match points to get the doubles point and didn’t get it and that ended up being the deciding point, so overall it was pretty disappointing,” head coach Eric Burns said. “The story of the day was we could not close out any leads when we got them, and I thought we played very tight. I don’t know if it was because it was the first conference match, but BG was much better on big points today than we were and that was pretty much the deciding factor in the match.” 

Match 2

The second match of the day was a different story for the Huskies as they dominated Roosevelt University in nearly every facet.

Doubles: 1-0 NIU

NIU won both matches of the day as Dmitrieva and Ross easily handled RU freshman Fabiola Rivas and junior Maria Rivas 6-4, while senior Paula Vayhle and sophomore Josefina Trella took care of RU senior Kyla Eaton and junior Grace Hahn 6-2.

Singles: 6-0 NIU

The singles action of the matchup was not much different as the Huskies were able to win all of their games in straight sets.

Ross defeated Maria Rivas 6-4, 6-1. Senior Fernanda Naves beat out Fabiola Rivas 6-1, 6-3. Dmitrieva knocked off Hahn 6-2, 6-1. Veyhle beat Eaton 6-0, 6-0. Trella and Robinson won their matches by forfeit as RU did not have any players to compete against them.

Thoughts from Coach Burns

“Nastia (Rakita) had a really nice win,” Burns said. “Reagan had a nice comeback in her match to get the win and Angelica played well, so those three had some nice singles wins today. Then, it was productive for us to give some people some chances to play versus Roosevelt and they performed well.”

What’s next

The Huskies will have three road matches next weekend as they take on the University of Toledo Rockets on Friday at noon in Toledo, Ohio, and then travel to Buffalo on Sunday to play the University of Buffalo Bison at noon and Binghamton Bearcats at 5:30 p.m.