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ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team lost a hard-fought battle against Ball State on Friday afternoon in Mid-American Conference action, with the Huskies dropping a 4-3 decision to the Cardinals.

After high winds in DeKalb forced the match, which was scheduled to be played on campus, to be moved to the Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford, the Huskies (11-6, 2-3 MAC) and Cardinals (12-4, 2-2 MAC) played a back-and-forth match that featured many momentum swings.

NIU head coach Tanya Gombera described the defeat as a "tough loss", but was pleased with the battling attitude the Huskies showed.

"The team played so hard. This match could've went either way," Gombera said. "We showed so much heart, and I am happy with the way everybody played, especially Nelle [Youel], Abigail [Dekkinga] and Arantza [De La Torre]. We're looking forward to our next matches because if we play like we did today, we have a great chance to be successful."

Ball State won the doubles point with victories in the No. 1 and No. 2 matches to start off the contest, which proved decisive after the two teams split the six singles matches evenly.

The Cardinals won two singles matches to take a 3-0 lead, but Arantza De La Torre (San Luis Potosi, Mexico/Motolinia) and Abigail Dekkinga (Allegan, Mich./Allegan) responded by earning singles wins to pull the score back to 3-2, leaving the Youel sisters -- Nelle at No. 1 and Evelyn at No. 5 -- as the only two Huskies on the court, knowing victories by both would lift NIU to a crucial team triumph.

Unfortunately for NIU, Evelyn Youel (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) dropped a three-set match to Ashlyn Rang after fighting back from a set down, and Ball State clinched the match.

However, NIU senior No. 1 singles player Nelle Youel (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) improved to 17-0 (5-0 MAC) in singles this spring with a thrilling three-set victory over Courtney Wild. After the top singles players on each team split the first two sets, Youel battled back from 3-0 down in the third set to win 6-4 and keep her perfect singles record alive.

The Huskies will next face Western Michigan at home on Sunday afternoon in their first on-campus match of the spring.

If weather complies, the match, which will feature Senior Day activities beforehand for four NIU seniors, is scheduled to be play at 1 p.m. CT on the West Tennis Courts in DeKalb beside the Chessick Pratice Center.

Ball State 4, NIU 3

Doubles
No. 1: Courtney Earnest and Rosalinda Calderon (BSU) def. Nelle Youel and Cristina Alvarez (NIU), 6-0
No. 2: Courtney Wild and Bethany Moore (BSU) def. Abigail Dekkinga and Evelyn Youel (NIU), 6-3
No. 3: Arantza De La Torre and Mary Malkin (NIU) unf. vs. Toni Ormond and Ashlyn Rang (BSU)

Singles
No. 1: Nelle Youel (NIU) def. Courtney Wild (BSU), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4
No. 2: Courtney Earnest (BSU) def. Cristina Alvarez (NIU), 6-2, 6-2
No. 3: Toni Ormond (BSU) def. Mary Malkin (NIU), 6-4, 7-5
No. 4: Arantza De La Torre (NIU) def. Rosalinda Calderon (BSU), 6-2, 6-2
No. 5: Ashlyn Rang (BSU) def. Evelyn Youel (NIU), 6-0, 2-6, 6-2
No. 6: Abigail Dekkinga (NIU) def. Bethany Moore (BSU), 6-1, 6-4

--NIU--