DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team opened its spring schedule Saturday at Chick Evans Field House in DeKalb by splitting a pair of dual matches. NIU defeated Bradley, 4-1, in its second match of the day after falling to Wisconsin, 7-0, in the morning opener.
 
"I was really proud of our effort today in both matches," said NIU third-year head coach Eric Burns. "Beating Bradley like we did this evening was a really good win for us, and it was pretty dominant for the most part. Everyone fought like crazy today in both matches and even this morning versus Wisconsin, we were able to play a lot of good matches, the scores don't tell the story of how competitive we were.  I think playing as well as we did put us in a good mindset going into the Bradley match."
 
The Huskies opened the Bradley match by taking the doubles point with the teams of Erika Dimitriev/Anastasia Rakita and Diana Lukyanova/Reagan Welch taking 6-1 wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles spots, respectively. Lukyanova and Rakita each triumphed in their singles matches, with Lukyanova defeating Bradley's Bozana Lojpur, 6-4, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and Rakita posting a 6-4, 6-3 win over Madalena Andrade at No. 3. NIU freshman Angelica Ross clinched the match for the Huskies with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 5 singles.
 
The win over Bradley was NIU's first over the Braves since 2017.
 
"Getting the doubles point was great," Burns said. "It put us in position to put pressure on them and then Diana played great in singles, she was down in the first set but then won 11 straight games to win the match. Then we knew we had some people down the line that could take care of business."   
 
NIU opened the day with a match against Wisconsin.  The Badgers claimed wins at No. 1 and 2 doubles to earn the point and followed it up by sweeping the singles.  At No. 1 singles, NIU's Diana Lukyanova won seven games in two sets against No. 59 Xinyu Cai of Wisconsin in the tightest match of the contest.
 
The Huskies return to action next weekend with four matches on the schedule, including three at home.  NIU will take on Bellarmine and Western Illinois on Friday, Feb. 4 at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., respectively and will host St. Thomas at 3 p.m. on Saturday before traveling to South Bend, Indiana to face Notre Dame on Sunday, Feb. 6 at 3 p.m.  All home matches are open to the public and free to attend.   
 
Wisconsin 7, NIU 0
Singles
1. No. 59 Xinyu Cai (WIS) def. Diana Lukyanova (NIU) 6-3, 6-4
2. Ava Markham (WIS) def. Erika Dimitriev (NIU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Alina Mukhortova (WIS) def. Anastasia Rakita (NIU) 6-2, 6-2
4. Charmaine Seah (WIS) def. Reagan Welch (NIU) 6-1, 6-3
5. Taylor Cataldi (WIS) def. Angelica Ross (NIU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Nastasya Semenovski (WIS) def. Christy Robinson (NIU) 6-4, 6-0
 
Doubles
1. Alina Mukhortova/Xinyu Cai (WIS) def. Erika Dimitriev/Anastasia Rakita (NIU) 6-2
2. Ariel Johnson/Ava Markham (WIS) def. Diana Lukyanova/Reagan Welch (NIU) 6-3
3. Charmaine Seah/Antonela Stoica (WIS) vs. Fernanda Naves/Iuliia Dmitrieva (NIU) DNF
 
 
NIU 4, Bradley 1
Singles
1. Diana Lukyanova (NIU) def. Bozana Lojpur (BRADLEY) 6-4, 6-0
2. Kirstin Hailey (BRADLEY) def. Erika Dimitriev (NIU) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
3. Anastasia Rakita (NIU) def. Madalena Andrade (BRADLEY) 6-4, 6-3
4. Reagan Welch (NIU) vs. Nina Marjanovic (BRADLEY) unfinished
5. Angelica Ross (NIU) def. Maria Bezmenova (BRADLEY) 6-2, 6-1
6. Christy Robinson (NIU) vs. Nikki Perlwitz (BRADLEY) unfinished
 
Doubles
1. Erika Dimitriev/Anastasia Rakita (NIU) def. Kirstin Hailey/Madalena Andrade (BRADLEY) 6-1
2. Diana Lukyanova/Reagan Welch (NIU) def. Nina Marjanovic/Maria Bezmenova (BRADLEY) 6-1
3. Nikki Perlwitz/Bozana Lojpur (BRADLEY) def. Iuliia Dmitrieva/Fernanda Naves (NIU) 6-3
 
-- NIU --