Women's Tennis | February 26

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team earned its first road win of the season and improved its dual match record to 8-3 on the season with a 5-2 win over Northern Iowa Saturday in Cedar Falls.
 
NIU opened the match by winning the doubles point with victories at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. Fernanda Naves and Christy Robinson dispatched their opponents, 6-1, at No. 3 doubles and Diana Lukyanova and Reagan Welch clinched the point with a 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles.
 
In singles, Anastasia Rakita got the Huskies off to a fast start with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Emma Carr at No. 3 singles and Reagan Welch made it 3-0, NIU, with a 6-0, 6-4 victory at No. 4 singles. The Panthers closed to within one point, 3-2, with a three-set win at No. 2 singles, while NIU's Erika Demetriev dropped a tight match to UNI's Darta Dalecka at No. 1 singles, 7-6, 7-6.
 
NIU freshman Angelica Ross clinched the victory for the Huskies with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Thaissa Moreira of UNI at No. 5 singles, and Christy Robinson provided the final point by taking the 10-7 win in the super tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets at No. 6 singles.
 
"This was a very tough battle," said NIU head coach Eric Burns. "Northern Iowa came ready to play and really made us work hard to win this match. I'm proud of how we responded when things got a little tight. The doubles point was very important as usual and our number 3, 4 and 5 singles really played great and were dominant today to help us get the win."   
 
The Huskies are back in action on Sunday, February 27 when they take on Drake in Des Moines.  The match begins at 10 a.m. at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center.
 
NIU 5, Northern Iowa 2
 
Singles
1. Darta Dalecka (UNI) def. Erika Dimitriev (NIU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5)
2. Lorena Cardoso (UNI) def. Diana Lukyanova (NIU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
3. Anastasia Rakita (NIU) def. Emma Carr (UNI) 6-1, 6-1
4. Reagan Welch (NIU) def. Andrijana Brkic (UNI) 6-0, 6-4
5. Angelica Ross (NIU) def. Thaissa Moreira (UNI) 6-2, 6-0
6. Christy Robinson (NIU) def. Issa Sullivan (UNI) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7)
 
Doubles
1. Darta Dalecka/Lorena Cardoso (UNI) def. Erika Dimitriev/Anastasia Rakita (NIU) 6-4
2. Diana Lukyanova/Reagan Welch (NIU) def. Andrijana Brkic/Thaissa Moreira (UNI) 6-3
3. Fernanda Naves/Christy Robinson (NIU) def. Olivia Fain/Issa Sullivan (UNI) 6-1
 
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (3,4,2,1,5,6)  
 
-- NIU --