BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Western Illinois women's tennis team comes up short in a hard fought battle against the Illinois State Redbirds. 

The WIU tennis team wasted no time getting points in doubles play with three back and forth battles. The team of Francois and Souza fought a hard battle but came up short with a score of 5-6. Routier and Gueblaoui went to war, ultimately coming out on top with a tie breaker victory ending the match with a score of 7-6 (7-3). Grice and Fawcett made a statement winning their match with a score of 7-5 securing the point for WIU.

Illinois State struck first in singles play, picking up wins at No. 6, No. 5, No.4 and No. 2 singles, respectively, to take a 1-4 lead in the match

After earning a win in doubles, Paige Grice suffered a 2-6, 4-6 loss at No. 2. Mana Fawcett suffered a 2-6, 4-6 loss at No. 4 singles. Nour Gueblaoui saw success in doubles, but fell 1-6, 1-6 at No. 5 singles. Nadezhda Petkova stepped up at the at No. 6 singles, but suffered a heartbreaking 1-6, 3-6 loss.

Lara Souza had a two set thriller at No. 3 ending the first with a score of 4-6 and ending the second with a score of 5-2 after her opponent retired due to injury. Chloé Routier earned a hard-fought 2-6 , 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles to pull the match score to 3-4. 

After opening the season on the road, Western Illinois will host Bradley University Saturday (Feb 1). 
 

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