Women's Tennis | October 8

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team completed a successful weekend in the ITA Midwest Regionals at University of Illinois on Sunday. The Huskies reached the quarterfinals of the doubles main draw and recorded wins against six Power Four Conference opponents, including five from the Big Ten. 

"We are really proud of our team and the way they competed this week. This makes three consecutive weeks of tournaments that we have stacked with amazing results," said head coach Eric Burns. "I can't recall being a part of a team that had as strong of a showing at an ITA regional as this team just had. We were nearly .500 at the toughest tournament of the fall season and were 6-9 in matches with P4 opponents with wins over Notre Dame, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Michigan State."

For the second consecutive year, the Huskies sent three representatives to the singles main draw after two advanced from the qualifying draw. NIU was the only non-Power Four conference team to advance through the singles qualifying draw, advancing with representatives from Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

"We knocked out two seeded opponents in singles and a seeded doubles team from Northwestern," said Burns. "Most importantly, we were in just about every match and really battled. We couldn't be happier with how this team is playing at the moment."

Rebeca Garcia Miralles / Sophia Shlyakhta stormed their way to the quarterfinals of the doubles main draw while Garcia Miralles and Lucia Yecora joined Irmak Budak on the singles main draw. 

Day One
Thursday saw Rebeca Garcia Miralles (Castellón, Spain / IES Sos Baynat) and Lucia Yecora (Seville, Spain / IES V Centenario School) each qualify for the singles main draw, combining for three wins over Pour Four Conference opponents in Michigan State, Notre Dame and Wisconsin as well as former conference rival Western Michigan.

Garcia Miralles reached the Round of 64 of the singles main draw with a pair of 6-4, 6-1 wins, beginning with defeating Nina Plihal of Michigan State and followed by a win over Gabriela Skrabalova of Wisconsin.

Yecora punched her ticket with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Notre Dame's Esther Vyrlan and a three-set victory of Western Michigan's Ayana Yaguchi, storming back to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.  

Sophia Shlyakhta (Vernon Hills, Ill. / Stevenson) recorded two singles wins on Thursday while Paulina Masherava (Vernon Hills, Ill. / Vernon Hills) added a 6-1, 6-2 win over Compassion Tsai of Bradley.

Day Two
NIU began the day by reaching the Round of 16 of the doubles main draw with Garcia Miralles / Sophia Shlyakhta knocking off Nora Syrtveit / Nina Plihal of Michigan State, 8-3, in the Round of 64 and followed with a 8-6 win over Marquette's Elizabeth Stuckslager / Emmerson White. 

Irmak Budak (Istanbul, Turkey / SAJEV) moved into the Round of 32 of the singles main draw with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ohio State's Hephzibah Oluwadare. 

Day Three
In the doubles main draw, Garcia Miralles / Shlyakhta continued the positive momentum, defeating No. 14 seed Philippa Färber / Erica Jessel  of Northwestern to reach the quarterfinals. Budak fell to top-seeded Piper Charney of Michigan in the Round of 32 in the singles main draw. 

Theodora Kousiou / Iben Storkaas recorded a 8-5 victory over Chicago State's Polina Agapitova / Maia Warlies in an extra match on Saturday. 

Day Four
The Huskies weekend came to a close on Sunday as No. 6 seed Ekaterina Ivanova / Ellison Reynoldson of Wisconsin defeated in the quarterfinals of the doubles main draw.