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CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team dropped a heartbreaking match to Southern Illinois, losing its undefeated record after suffering a 4-3 setback to the Salukis in Carbondale, Ill.

NIU had been unbeaten and entered the in-state matchup ranked No. 74, but lost to Southern Illinois by the narrowest of margins on Saturday morning. The Huskies have now lost eight straight matches against the Salukis dating back to 2005.

First-year head coach Tanya Gombera was disappointed to see her team lose its perfect record but thought that the Huskies still played well against a team that NIU has struggled mightily against in recent years.

"I thought the team competed well today and had a lot of heart against a very good team," Gombera said. "I am confident that if we continue to play like this we should be successful in conference play."

The Huskies were unable to win the doubles point for the first time this season, and that point for Southern Illinois proved decisive despite singles wins by Nelle Youel (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central), Cristina Alvarez (Zaragoza, Spain/Cristorey and Sagrado Corazon de Jesus) and Arantza De La Torre (San Luis Potosi, Mexico/Motolinia) for NIU.

Youel and Alvarez won the top two singles matches in dramatic fashion, both battling back from one set down to win in three sets by winning late games; Youel's victory kept her undefeated start to the season alive, improving to 17-0 in 2015.

De La Torre picked up a straight-set victory, but Mary Malkin (Tel Aviv, Israel/Alliance) lost in singles for the first time this season, dropping a third-set tiebreaker in a back-and-forth No. 3 match.

The NIU women's tennis team will face another tough team on the road next weekend when the Huskies travel to No. 38 DePaul on Saturday, March 7. The match will begin at 2 p.m. in Chicago, Ill.

Doubles
No. 1: N. Youel and Alvarez (NIU) unf. Tomishima and Monaghan (SIU)
No. 2: Beirao and Dozortseva (SIU) def. Malkin and E. Youel (NIU), 6-3
No. 3: Cairo Baza and Golovkina (SIU) def. De La Torre and Gates (NIU), 6-3; SIU leads, 1-0

Singles
No. 1: N. Youel (NIU) def. Tomishima (SIU), 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-5
No. 2: Alvarez (NIU) def. Monaghan (SIU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 3: Golovkina (SIU) def. Malkin (NIU), 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (5)
No. 4: De La Torre (NIU) def. Beirao (SIU), 6-3, 6-4
No. 5: Chrysanthou (SIU) def. Dekkinga (NIU), 0-6, 1-6
No. 6: Cairo Baza (SIU) def. Gates (NIU), 2-6, 2-6

--NIU--