Normal, Ill. –Down a player for the second straight match in a row because of injuries, the Western Illinois women's tennis team fell to Illinois State 4-0.
"Although we lost the match Laura (Ballesteros) and Megan (Tagaloa) showed a lot of improvement in their game," said head coach Mirko Bjelica. "The rest of the girls also fought very hard but it's difficult to compete against a good team with just five players."
The Leathernecks fall to 3-5, and Illinois State improves to 8-5.
WIU had to forfeit No. 3 singles, which lead to ISU clinching the doubles point after Tara Damnjanovic and Natalia Bravo defeated Ana Bjelica and Mary Bjelica 6-1 in No. 2 doubles.
Down 1-0, Western fell quickly behind 2-0 since the No. 6 singles was forfeited. The Redbirds then set up to clinch the non-league match on a 6-0, 6-1 defeat of Camryn Rossa by Laura Fitzgerald in No. 5 singles. Illinois State earned the dual match victory when Mary Bjelica lost 6-2, 6-0 to Damnjanovic in the No. 2 flight.
"We have a couple of weeks to focus on the things to work on before our conference matches begin and I believe that having a Spring Break around the corner should help."
The Purple and Gold now have a week to prepare before opening up Summit League play in Tulsa, Okla., to take on Oral Roberts (March 15) and North Dakota (March 17).
