BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team won 11 singles and seven doubles matches versus opponents from Indiana, Purdue, Cincinnati, Xavier and Miami (Ohio) at the Hoosier Classic played over the weekend at the outdoor IU Tennis Courts.
 
The Huskies finished the weekend 18-10 overall, including an 11-6 record in singles and a 7-4 mark in doubles.
 
"Overall, I'm really proud of the effort and the way we competed all weekend," said NIU head coach Eric Burns. "That's what we want to see every time we play. We fought, we played aggressively, and we played like we believed we could win. They handled the tight situations well. There were close matches and a lot of them went our way."
 
Sophomore Isabella Righi was undefeated in singles in the tournament with straight set wins over opponents from Cincinnati, Miami (Ohio) and Xavier. Junior Reagan Welch and sophomores Jenna Horne and Nataly Ninova each won two of their three singles matches, including wins over players from Indiana, Cincinnati and Purdue, respectively.
 
After going 2-4 in singles matches on Friday, the Huskies combined to go 9-2 in singles on Saturday and Sunday.  
 
"We got stronger as the weekend went on," Burns said. "Clearly the work the team is putting in with our strength coach is paying off."
 
In doubles, the team of Erika Dimitriev and Nataly Ninova won all four of their matches, including a tiebreaker win over Indiana's L'Allier and Lin and an 8-3 victory over Milic and Dellabarca of Purdue. In addition, Righi teamed with Diana Lukyanova to pick up wins over Cincinnati and Indiana on Friday to post a 2-0 record.
 
"I saw more aggressive play from us in doubles," Burns said. Other than Nataly (Ninova) and Erika (Dimitriev), all the teams we tried were newer and hadn't played much together. Erika and Nataly going 4-0 was impressive. They beat some really good teams."
 
Several NIU players will compete at the UW-Whitewater Warhawk Invitational October 6-7.
 
NIU FRIDAY SCORES
Singles
L'Allier (Indiana) def. Lukyanova (NIU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
Righi (NIU) def. Reddy (Cincinnati) 6-1, 6-3
Nwaozuzu (Xavier) def. Welch (NIU) 7-6, 6-4
Sierra (Miami) def. Horne (NIU) 6-2, 6-4
Dimitriev (NIU) def. Dev (Miami) 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-3
Milic (Purdue) def. Ninova (NIU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
 
Doubles
Dimitriev/Ninova (NIU) def. L'Allier/Lin (Indiana) 8-7 (3)
Righi/Lukyanova (NIU) def. Pacheco/Reddy (Cincinnati) 8-3
Welch/Horne (NIU) def. Sierra/Dev (Miami) 8-4
Zalukar/E. Valentinsson (Miami) def. Welch/Horne (NIU) 8-4
Dimitriev/Ninova (NIU) def. Sierra/Dev (Miami) 8-5
Righi/Lukyanova (NIU) def. Dunac/Lin (Indiana) 8-6
 
SATURDAY NIU SCORES
Singles
Teodosescu (Indiana) def. Dimitriev (NIU) 6-3, 6-4
Righi (NIU) def. Sierra (Miami) 6-0, 6-2
Horne (NIU) def. Dev (Miami) 6-4, 6-3
Ninova (NIU) def. Pareja (Purdue) 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
Welch (NIU) def. 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3)
 
Doubles
Dimitriev/Ninova (NIU) def. Guenther/Watanabe (Cincinnati) 8-4
Nugent/Flowers (Xavier) def. Welch/Righi (NIU) 8-6
Brotherton/Mazzucato (Xavier) def. Lukyanova/Horne (NIU) 8-2
Nugent/Flowers (Xavier) def. Lukyanova/Horne (NIU) 8-2
Dimitriev/Ninova (NIU) def. Milic/Dellabarca (Purdue) 8-3
 
SUNDAY NIU SCORES
Singles
Watanabe (Cincinnati) def. Dimitriev (NIU) 7-5, 6-2
Lukyanova (NIU) def. E. Valentinsson (Miami) 6-0, 6-3
Welch (NIU) def. L. Valentinsson (Miami) 7-5, 6-3
Righi (NIU) def. Nwaozuzu (Xavier) 7-5, 6-4
Horne (NIU) def. Reddy (Cincinnati) 6-2, 6-4
Ninova (NIU) def. Joyce (Miami) 6-3, 7-6 (8-6)
 
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