ROCKFORD, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University Women's tennis team posted a pair of home victories defeating Eastern Illinois and Valparaiso at the Boylan Tennis Center Saturday afternoon.
 
The Huskies (4-4) posted a 4-3 victory over the Panthers in the first match of the day before beating Valparaiso, 5-2. With Saturday's wins, NIU improved to 4-0 at home.
 
"It was a great day for the team," said NIU head coach Tanya Mahefu. "We got two wins against two extremely tough opponents. I felt like we improved a lot from last weekend's performance. We battled in most singles sports all day. We look ahead to good practices this week to get ready for DePaul next weekend."
 
The Huskies won both doubles points, sweeping the three matches versus EIU and taking two of three matches versus Valparaiso.
 
NIU split its six singles matches with the Panthers as Thisuri Molligoda (Colombo, Sri-Lanka), Lara Slisko (Essendon, Australia/St. Columba's College) and Brodie Walker (Bristol, England/Bristol Grammar) scored wins at No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively.
 
The Huskies kept the momentum of the morning's singles matches into the afternoon against the Crusaders. Slisko and Walker won their second matches of the day, withi each winning in straight sets. Walker was particularly impressive, winning her match, 6-0, 6-0.
 
Abigail Dekkinga (Allegan, Mich./Allegan Senior) and Evelyn Youel (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake South) picked up their first wins of the day, posting victories at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively.
 
The NIU women's tennis team returns to the court Sunday when the Huskies travel to DePaul. The match begins at 1 p.m. CT
 
Northern Illinois 4, Eastern Illinois 3
 
Doubles competition
1. Thisuri Molligoda/Evelyn Youel (NIU) def. Stella Cliffe/Grace Summers (EIU), 6-2
2. Lara Slisko/Maria Potsi (NIU) def. Emily Pugachevsky/ Karla Contreras (EIU) 6-4
3. Abigail Dekkinga/Brodie Walker (NIU) def. Srishti Slaria/Claire Martin (EIU) 6-4
 
Singles
1. Thisuri Molligoda (NIU) def. Stella Cliffe (EIU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
2. Grace Summers (EIU) def. Maria Potsi (NIU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Srishti Slaria (EIU) def. Abigail Dekkinga (NIU) 5-7, 6-0, 6-0
4. Emily Pugachevsky (EIU) def. Evelyn Youel (NIU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Lara Slisko (NIU) def. Abby Carpenter, (EIU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
6. Brodie Walker (NIU) def. Claire Martin (EIU) 6-0, 7-5
 
Northern Illinois 5, Valparaiso 2
 
Doubles
1. Claire Czerwonka/Jelena Vujanic (VALPO) def. Thisuri Molligoda/Evelyn Youel (NIU) 6-3
2. Maria Potsi/Lara Slisko (NIU) def. Randi Wind/Dao Sysouvanh (VALPO) 6-3
3. Abigail Dekkinga/Brodie Walker (NIU) def. Meg Modesto/Halle Roach (VALPO) 6-2
 
Singles
1. Claire Czerwonka (VALPO) def. Thisuri Molligoda (NIU) 6-2, 6-3
2. Jelena Vujanic (VALPO) def. Maria Potsi (NIU) 6-1, 6-1
3. Abigail Dekkinga (NIU) def. Meg Modesto (VALPO) 6-4, 6-2
4. Evelyn Youel (NIU) def. Dao Sysouvanh (VALPO) 6-3, 6-4
5. Lara Slisko (NIU) def. Randi Wind (VALPO) 7-6 (0-1), 6-0
6. Brodie Walker (NIU) def. Erin Staal (VALPO) 6-0, 6-0

-NIU-