CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team competed in the 2025 ITA Midwest Regional Championships this weekend, hosted by University of Illinois. The five-day event from Thursday, Oct. 16 to Monday, Oct. 20 brought in top programs from the region, all hoping to lock in their NCAA Division I Singles and Doubles Championship bids.
The Huskies had three players make the main draw in singles in
Irmak Budak,
Nataly Ninova and
Sophia Shlyakhta, the most from NIU in over 15 years. In the doubles draw,
Jenna Horne and
Lucia Yecora reached the round of 16 following an upset of No. 9 seeded Illinois.
"I'm really proud of the way our team competed this weekend at the ITA Regional," said head coach
Eric Burns. "This is the biggest event of the fall for us. We showed much more competitiveness and energy than we showed at IU two weeks ago."
The Huskies began on Thursday with six players competing in the singles qualifying round of 64 looking to join Budak in the main draw.
Theodora Kousiou, Ninova and Shlyakhta each opened the first qualifying round with a win, advancing to the round of 32.
Ninova dropped the first set to Western Michigan's Marielou Baudouin, but bounced back to win 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Shlyakhta, who entered the qualifying draw as an alternate, downed Illinois' Rose Seccia 6-4, 6-3. With the qualifying round of 32 wins, Ninova and Shlyakhta both qualified for the main draw.
In the opening round of the main draw, Shlyakhta defeated Elena Palioura of Southern Illinois 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the round of 32. The freshman lost to No. 9 seed Jessica Bernales of Michigan in the following round.
Burns praised Shlyakhta's performance in a high-level tournament.
"I'm so excited about the way she played and competed," Burns said. "To come from being out of the qualifying draw as an alternate at the beginning of the week, to being in and qualifying and winning a main draw match in her first ITA regional, it's a remarkable achievement."
In the doubles draw, Horne and Yecora opened defeated Chicago State in the opening round and then upset No. 9 seeded pairing Cara Mester and McKenna Schaefbauer of hosting Illinois to reach the round of 16. Horne and Yecora lost in the round of 16 to Michigan's No. 4 seeded pairing of Gabriella Vannessa Lindgren and Reese Miller.
Burns pointed to Horne and Yecora's ability to make a competitive match against the pair from Michigan, a Final Four team in 2025.
"Jenna and Lu played great against a good Michigan team and came up just a bit short. I'm really proud of their effort," Burns said. "Making it to the round of 16 at this tournament is a great accomplishment."
Next up for the Huskies is the NIU Huskies Indoor Invitational at home from Saturday, Oct. 31 to Sunday, Nov. 2.
2025 ITA DI Women's Midwest Regional Championships Brackets
