BOX SCORE
NORMAL, Ill. – The Western Illinois women's tennis team dropped an afternoon contest to Illinois State, 7-0, on Sunday (Jan. 31) in Normal. The defeat moves the Leathernecks to 0-2 on the young season, while the Redbirds improve to 2-0.
"If you look at the scores, you will see we battled. In several matches, a point here and an unforced error there was the difference," said
Lisa Melz-Jennings.
The Redbirds had the early advantage as they won at the No. 3 doubles spot by default. The No. 1 duo of
Courtney Lubbers and
Maria Bessmertnaya fell to Marcia Tere-Apisah and Veronika Golanova of Illinois State, 6-1.
Nicole Jones and
Arianna Demos fell at the No. 2 spot, 6-2.
In singles action, Lubbers claimed the first set at No. 1, 6-2, but then dropped the second set, 6-3. In the tiebreaker to determine the match, Lubbers battled but fell, 11-9. At the No. 4 spot, Jones bounced back from a 6-4 defeat in the first set by claiming a 6-1 decision in the second set before falling 10-3 in the tiebreaker. Bessmertnaya (6-0, 6-3), Demos (6-2, 6-1), and
Jenna Wallace (6-4, 6-2), were all unable to grab any victories in their respective singles contests. The No. 6 singles match was claimed by Illinois State by default.
The Purple and Gold will host two contests next weekend (Feb. 6-7) in Galesburg, Illinois. Saturday's match against Illinois Springfield is set for 9 a.m., and first serve against Upper Iowa on Sunday begins at 1 p.m.
