DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team earned its second victory of the weekend with a 4-3 win over Bellarmine Saturday at the Nelson Tennis Center to even the Huskies' record at 2-2 on the 2024 dual match season.
 
"This was one of our best weekends in a long time," said NIU head coach Eric Burns. "Bellarmine is an excellent team and was coming off some good wins vs. MTSU (who upset Louisville the same weekend) and at Valpo on Friday night. We competed with urgency as a team all weekend and I think we learned a lot about who we can be if we play for one another out there and make it about team success."
 
Junior Erika Dimitriev and senior Diana Lukyanova won three-set matches at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively, to provide the Huskies' final two points of the dual, giving NIU the win over the Knights.
 
NIU won the doubles point for the third straight match to take a 1-0 lead.  The No. 3 doubles pair of Reagan Welch and Jenna Horne got the match started with a 6-2 win over the Bellarmine duo of Kramarova and Kanna Hagi, while Dimitriev and Angelica Ross clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win in the No. 2 spot.
 
"The doubles play was on point all weekend and we had saw players people step up in a difficult situation," Burns said. "We are really proud of the effort all weekend and it was fun to watch."
 
Sophomore Isabella Righi quickly made it 2-0 Huskies with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Kanna Hagi at No. 4 singles. The Knights claimed a win at No. 3 singles to halve NIU's lead.
 
Dimitriev dropped the first set of her singles match, 6-4, before coming back to win the next two sets by identical 6-2 scores. Meanwhile, Lukyanova and Marika Caruk of Bellarmine split the first two sets with the Huskie junior coming back to win the deciding set 6-0, giving NIU its fourth point and the win.
 
NIU heads out on the road for the remainder of the month. The Huskies are next in action Friday, February 9th with a pair of matches in Iowa as they take on Northern Iowa at 10 a.m. and Iowa at 6 p.m.  
 
NIU Huskies 4, Bellarmine 3
Feb. 3, 2024 at DeKalb, Illinois
(Nelson Tennis Center)
 
Singles competition
1. Erika Dimitriev (NIU-W) def. Ekaterina Tikhonko (BELL) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
2. Diana Lukyanova (NIU-W) def. Marika Caruk (BELL) 6-4, 1-6, 6-0
3. Vendula Kryslova (BELL) def. Reagan Welch (NIU-W) 6-1, 7-5
4. Isabella Righi (NIU-W) def. Erica Kanna Hagi (BELL) 6-1, 6-4
5. Yeva Kramarova (BELL) def. Jenna Horne (NIU-W) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2)
6. Nikola Kollaritsch (BELL) def. Angelica Ross (NIU-W) 6-1, 6-1
 
Doubles competition
1. Diana Lukyanova/Isabella Righi (NIU-W) vs. Vendula Kryslova/Ekaterina Tikhonko (BELL) 5-5, unfinished
2. Erika Dimitriev/Angelica Ross (NIU-W) def. Marika Caruk/Nikola Kollaritsch (BELL) 6-4
3. Reagan Welch/Jenna Horne (NIU-W) def. Yeva Kramarova/Erica Kanna Hagi (BELL) 6-2
 
Match Notes:
Bellarmine 3-5
NIU Huskies 2-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (4,3,1,2,6,5)
 
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