Women's Tennis | November 3

DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team closed out its fall 2024 tournament schedule over the weekend with an impressive showing at the Huskie Indoor Invitational played in the Nelson Tennis Center at Chick Evans Field House.
 
Huskies won or shared the titles in three of five singles and both doubles flights. NIU players combined for 29 wins in 32 matches over the three-day tournament, including a perfect 11-0 mark in doubles to go with an 18-3 record in singles.
 
"We had a lot of really good performances this tournament and even in some of the matches where we weren't as sharp, we really fought through, kept it close, battled and showed resilience," said NIU head coach Eric Burns. "The doubles was dominant so we felt really good about that, even with using some different pairings than the last tournament."
 
In singles, NIU seniors Erika Dimitriev and Maria Dzemeshkevich shared the Flight 1 title, junior Nataly Ninova was the Flight 2 winner and freshman Irmak Budak won the Black Flight. Dimitriev and Ninova shared the Flight 1 doubles championship with teammates Jenna Horne and Lucia Yecora, while Reagan Welch paired with Dzemeshkevich to take the Flight 2 doubles crown. The tournament included players from Marquette, St. Thomas, Lewis and IU-Indianapolis in addition to NIU.
 
"This was our best tournament as far as being sharp," Burns said. "We play better indoors; our styles match up better.  It's good that we got a lot of practice outdoors this fall, but we're comfortable indoors, especially on our home courts here at the Nelson Center."
 
The home event marked an end to a solid fall for NIU as four newcomers made their Huskie debuts, joining the six returnees from a year ago.
 
"We're happy [with the fall] but know there is some work to do still [going into the dual match season in January], Burns said. "We had good success overall, had our new players get a lot of matches and learned a lot as far as what to expect and what we can do on the doubles court. We have a good grasp of what that line-up should look like and can look like."
 
After qualifying for the Main Draw at ITA Regionals this fall, Dimitriev, the Huskies' number one player through most of last year, finished strong this weekend as did Dzemeshkevich, a transfer from the University of Houston.  Both went undefeated in singles and doubles at the Huskie Indoor.
 
"Erika had her best tournament to the fall to finish things up," Burns said. "Maria played great at Minn and then played some great tennis this weekend so that was really positive for her. Nataly [Ninova] improved as the fall went and had a nice run to the semifinals at the MAC Indoors."
 
Freshmen Yecora and Budak entered the weekend with singles records of 6-1 and 5-2, respectively, this fall. Fellow rookie Theodora Kousiou sat out the Huskie Indoor due to injury after recording a win versus Michigan State at the ITA Regionals and paired with several partners in doubles.
 
"Lucia had a great fall as did Irmak," Burns said. "Theodora took on some tough competition. All four [of the newcomers] are going to step up and contribute in some way this spring for sure and are all very capable of being in the line-up. Overall, we're sitting in a pretty good place now. We just need to keep playing, prepare during the winter break and come into January ready to go and focused."
 
NIU returns to action January 10-12 at the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston before the first dual match of the 2025 campaign on January 17 with a trip to Missouri to face Lindenwood and Saint Louis.
 
Huskie Indoor Invitational Singles Champions
Flight 1 - Co-Champions Erika Dimitriev (NIU) and Maria Dzemeshkevich (NIU)
Flight 2 – Nataly Ninova (NIU)
Flight 3 - Lily Olson (St. Thomas)
Black Flight - Irmak Budak (NIU)
Red Flight - Avelynn Wen (Lewis)
 
Huskie Indoor Invitational Doubles Champions
Flight 1 - Co-Champions Erika Dimitriev/Nataly Ninova (NIU) and Jenna Horne/Lucia Yecora (NIU)
Flight 2 – Reagan Welch/Maria Dzemeshkevich (NIU)
 
View All Scores
 
-- NIU --
 
Twitter: @NIUAthletics
Facebook: NIU Huskies
Instagram: niuhuskies
YouTube: NIU Athletics