Women's Tennis | October 2

CLEVELAND, Oh. – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team began the first day of the Horizon League Individual Championships at Cleveland State on Friday morning. The Huskies will be competing against Cleveland State, IU Indy, Milwaukee, Oakland and Youngstown State this weekend.

On Friday, all five Huskies participating in the single main draw advanced to the Round of 16 and three moved into the third round. Two of the three doubles teams for NIU advanced to quarterfinals of the doubles main draw.

Saturday saw NIU claim three of the four positions in the quarterfinals of the singles main draw and reach the semifinals of the doubles.

Day One
Irmak Budak, Rebeca Garcia Miralles and Theodora Kousiou each punched their tickets to the third round of the singles main draw on Friday afternoon. Both Budak and Kousiou used a pair three-set victories to advance.

Budak, the No. 5 seed, began with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over Oakland's Oliwia Klimas and downed Milwaukee's Valentina Vallova by score of 6-7, 6-2, 6-1. Kousiou defeated Mel Petkova in the opening round and knocked off top-seeded Martina Marusinova of Oakland, winning 0-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Garcia Miralles started with a victory over Cleveland State's Leah Geisz and used a three-set victory of her own to reach the third round, defeating Oakland's Nisa Bulut 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Both Natalia Varela Herrera and Lucia Yecora reached the Round of 16 with wins over IU Indy.

In doubles, Garcia Miralles / Sophia Sklyakhta advanced to the quarterfinals with a 8-4 win over Cleveland State while Varela Herrera / Yecora defeated Youngstown State to move on.

Day Two
Saturday began with similar results with Budak, Garcia Miralles and Kousiou each advancing in the singles main draw. All three won in straight sets, highlighted by Budak downing No. 4 seed Hannah Telzynska of Youngstown State.

The Huskies represented three of the four participants in the quarterfinals, leading to Budak and Kousiou facing one another while Garcia Miralles took on Youngstown State's Duru Kuscu. Budak and Kousiou battled for three sets as Budak prevailed 3-6, 7-6, 6-4. Garcia Miralles went down to the wire against Kuscu in the semifinals with Kuscu holding on to win 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 (7).

Budak faces Kuscu in the singles main draw finals with a trip to the ITA Conference Masters on the line at 9 a.m. CT.

NIU advanced in the doubles main draw as well as Varela Herrera / Yecora handled Milwaukee's Natalia Castaneda / Valentina Vallova 8-1 to reach the semifinals. The Huskies have a match slated against top-seeded Edie Hammond / Martina Marusinova of Oakland.

Both semifinals and finals matches in the doubles main draw will take place on Sunday, beginning at 9 a.m. CT.