How it happened

The NIU women’s tennis team won in singles play 4-3 over the Eastern Michigan Eagles Friday at the Nelson Tennis Center in the Chick Evans Field House in DeKalb.

The victory was NIU’s first in Mid-American Conference play this season.

No. 1 singles player Erika Dmitriev put the Huskies on the board with a 6-2, 6-3 win and the team split the points at No. 3 and 4 singles with NIU’s Reagan Welch posting a 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 3 spot.

EMU’s Sabina Brichackova brought her team to a 3-2 lead with a three-set win in No. 2 singles.  

The Huskies then tied the game 3-3. With the score tied in the second set, Dmitrieva broke EMU’s Grace Whitney’s serve to go ahead 4-3 and was able to close out the match from there.

Thoughts from Coach Eric Burns

Burns’ thoughts on singles wins:

“It was a great win,” head coach Eric Burns said in an NIU Athletics news release. “I’m really proud of the team and how they fought today.

Burns’ thoughts on setbacks:

“This has been a tough stretch for us, we’re playing a little shorthanded (due to injury), so it’s great to see everyone step up and that’s what happened today.”

The end result

NIU’s record is 14-10 overall and 1-5 in the Mid-American Conference. Eastern Michigan’s overall record is 14-13 and they are 2-3 in the MAC.

NIU will travel to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to face Western Michigan on Sunday at noon CT.