Women's Tennis | April 13
DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team clinched the Mid-American Conference West Division title and its first trip to the MAC Championship Tournament since 2017 Sunday with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Buffalo Sunday at the Nelson Tennis Center.
The victory – NIU's 21st of the season – set a new school record after the Huskies tied the previous mark, originally set by the 1984-85 women's tennis team, a week ago. NIU is 7-2 in the MAC with one match remaining in the regular season. The Huskies will play at Miami (Ohio) next Friday with a chance to claim the regular season MAC Championship.
"We've been a good team from the start this year and they've really focused and battled for NIU and for the team so for us to be rewarded and be able to get to 21 wins and break that record and have a chance to play for a conference championship, I couldn't be happier for everyone," said NIU head coach
Eric Burns.
The day also saw junior
Nataly Ninova break the school record for singles wins in a season, as she claimed her 29th victory this year (combined fall and spring results) with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles. Ninova broke the record originally set by Huskie great Nelle Youel, who won 28 singles matches in 2014-15.
"For Nataly to be able to get that record says a lot," Burns said. "She's had one heck of a season and that's a really good accomplishment to have 29 wins and to surpass Nelle Youel, who's one of the most storied players in the history of our program."
NIU opened Sunday's match by winning the doubles point with 6-4 wins at No. 2 and No. 3 by the teams of
Lucia Yecora and
Isabella Righi and
Reagan Welch and
Jenna Horne, respectively.
In singles, Huskies
Irmak Budak, Yecora and Ninova each won their opening sets at No. 2, 3 and 4 but it was Buffalo that put the next point on the board with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles to tie the match 1-1.
Ninova split sets at No. 4 singles before rebounding for a 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 win. Budak gave NIU a 3-1 lead after prevailing in a tiebreaker in the first set, 7-2, for a 7-6, 7-5 victory. At No. 3 singles, Yecora and Buffalo's Jagmeet Kaur played the longest match of the day before Yecora came through with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 win to improve her record to 17-2 on the season.
Buffalo took the matches at No. 5 and 6 singles, both in third set 10-point tiebreakers after Yecora's clinching point.
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