COLUMBUS, Ohio – Senior Erika Dimitriev won a pair of matches in qualifying to join teammate Maria Dzemeshkevich in the singles main draw and two Northern Illinois University doubles team won to advance to the second round at the ITA Midwest Regional in Columbus, Ohio over the weekend.
 
"Overall, we had a solid tournament," said NIU head coach Eric Burns. "We had some wins on day one in qualifying, but we showed some nerves and played a little tight in some matches. On days two and three, we got better and had some really solid efforts, even in some of our losses. We battled with some of the best teams in the nation, and I hope we are able to gain some confidence from those matches."
 
Eight Huskies won singles matches in qualifying, either in the first round or in consolation, while taking on players from in-state, Mid-American Conference and power competition. Dimitriev defeated Western Michigan's Audrey Smitek, 7-6 (6), 6-3 and Valparaiso's Brynn Steven 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the singles main draw where she fell to Neena Feldman of Northwestern, 6-4, 6-4. Dzemeshkevich lost her initial match in the singles main draw, then took seeded player Nibedita Ghosh of Notre Dame to a 10-point super tiebreaker in the consolation round.
 
"There were many highlights for us," Burns said. "It was good to see Erika qualify for the main draw in singles. Jenna [Horne] made a great return back from injury with a couple of solid matches in her first singles action of the fall. Theodora [Kousiou] had a nice win in the consolation over Michigan State and Maria nearly pulled an upset victory over Notre Dame in the main draw consolation. Our doubles teams competed really well with two advancing to the round of 32 and were nearly able to pull some upsets in those matches. It was a good tournament, and our ladies really fought and represented NIU well."
 
In doubles, the Huskie duos of Jenna Horne/Theodora Kousiou and Isabella Righi/Lucia Yecora both claimed first round wins over teams from Bowling Green and Marquette, respectively, to advance.  
 
See the complete list of NIU results from the ITA Midwest Regional below.  The Huskies are next in action at the MAC Indoor Championships October 24-27 in Oxford, Ohio before playing host to the NIU Huskie Invitational November 1-3 in DeKalb.
 
NIU RESULTS - ITA Midwest Regional
October 10-12, Columbus, Ohio
 
Qualifying Singles 
First Round (Oct. 10)
Yecora (NIU) def. Koons (SIUE), 7-6 (3), 6-1
#9-16 Dimitriev (NIU) def. Smitek (WMU), 7-6 (6), 6-3
Lourerio (NU) def. Kousiou (NIU), 6-4, 6-0
Welch (NIU) def. Badman (BRAD), 6-4, 6-1
#9-16 Bordereaux (WISC) def. Paradise (NIU), 6-2, 6-0
Righi (NIU) def. Tsai (BRAD), 6-2, 6-1
Budak (NIU) def. Pukhina (BRAD), 7-5, 7-5
Daneva (EMU) def. Ninova (NIU), 6-2, 6-4
Horne (NIU) def. Tseng (BRAD), 6-4, 6-3

Second Round (winners advance to main draw)
#9-16 Pomarolli (ISU) def. Welch (NIU), 6-1, 6-2
#3 Cau (OSU) def. Budak (NIU), 6-0, 6-3 
#9-16 Dimitriev (NIU) def. Steven (VALPO), 6-0, 6-2
#5 A. Rabjohns (NU) def. Yecora (NIU), 6-1, 6-2
#7 Molnar (ND) def. Righi (NIU), 6-1, 6-2
#9-16 Reynoldson (WISC) def. Horne (NIU), 6-3, 6-4
 
Main Draw Singles
First Round (Oct. 11)
Tianna Rangan (Wisconsin) def. Maria Dzemeshkevich (NIU), 6-3, 6-3
Neena Feldman (Northwestern) def. Erika Dmitriev (NIU), 6-4, 6-4 

Main Draw Singles Consolation (Oct. 12)
#9-16 Nibedita Ghosh (Notre Dame) def. Maria Dzemeshkevich (NIU) 3-6, 6-2, 10-8
Ellison Reynoldson (Wisconsin) def. Erika Dimitriev (NIU), 6-3, 6-0
 
Qualifying Singles Consolation (Oct. 11)
Weijerman (WMU) def. Paradise (NIU), 6-0, 6-0
Kousiou (NIU) def. #9-16 Parkins-Godwin (MSU), 6-4, 6-3
Ninova (NIU) def. Lalonde (VALPO), 7-5, 6-3
 
Main Draw Doubles
First Round (Oct. 11)
Horne/Kousiou (NIU) def. Baker/Clemens (Bowling Green State), 8-5
Schaefbauer/Treiber (Illinois) def. Dimitriev/Ninova (NIU), 8-5
Seccia/Madatali (Illinois) def. Welch/Dzemeshkevich (NIU), 8-4
Righi/Yecora (NIU) def. Davis/Abbott (Marquette), 8-5

Second Round (Oct. 12)
#9-16 Martinez/Ferrari (ILL) def. Horne/Kousiou (NIU), 8-6
#9-16 Bruno/Sheinin (UM) def. Righi/Yecora (NIU), 8-4
 
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