Southern Illinois University
Northern Illinois
Salukis down nationally-ranked Northern Illinois, 4-3
02/28/2015 | 12:00:00 | Women's Tennis
By Elizabeth Robinson
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Salukis broke No. 74-ranked Northern Illinois' undefeated record on Saturday, coming away with a hard-fought 4-3 victory over the Huskies. SIU is now 4-6 on the season.
"It was a total team effort this morning against a good NIU team," assistant coach Michaela Bezdickova said. "Everybody competed very well today and it paid off."
SIU opened up with solid performances in doubles, earning wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions to secure the doubles points. Once again, the No. 1 match went unfinished. Vitoria Beirao and Polina Dozortseva topped their opponents, 6-3, at No. 2, as did Ariadna Cairo Baza and Yana Golovkina at No. 3.
Success for the Salukis continued into singles, as SIU came away with three-of-six matches.
The top three positions were battles, with each decided by a third set. At the No. 1 spot, Natasha Tomishima took the first set in a tiebreaker - 7-6 (5) - before falling in the final two sets. The No. 2 match was much of the same, as Meagan Monaghan took the first set before falling in the final two.
Freshman Yana Golovkina played to win at the No. 3 spot, taking the first set before falling in the second to push the match to a deciding third set. The match came down to the final points, as a tiebreaker allowed Golovkina to earn the third set and match win, 7-6 (5).
The Salukis were strong at the bottom two slots, as Athena Chrysanthou and Ariadna Cairo Baza topped their NIU opponents in two sets each, at the No. 5 and No. 6 spots, respectively. At the No. 4 spot, however, freshman Vitoria Beirao struggled against her opponent, falling in each set.
With one day of rest between, the Salukis return to the court again on Monday to take on SIUE after the match was rescheduled due to winter weather.
"We will have another tough match on Monday, so it will be important to take care of our bodies today and tomorrow so we can be ready to go for SIUE," Bezdickova said.
Match time on Monday is 5 p.m. at Garden Grove Events Center.
Complete Results
Doubles
DNF: Tomishima/Monaghan (SIU) vs. N. Youel/Alvarez (NIU) 5-6, unfinished
W: Beirao/Dozortseva (SIU) def. Malkin/E. Youel (NIU) 6-3
W: A. Cairo Baza/Golovkina (SIU) def. De La Torre/Gates (NIU) 6-3
Singles
L: Nelle Youel (NIU) def. Natasha Tomishima (SIU) 7-6 (5), 2-6, 5-7
L: Cristina Alvarez (NIU) def. Meagan Monaghan (SIU) 6-4, 3-6, 4-6
W: Yana Golovkina (SIU) def. Mary Malkin (NIU) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5)
L: Arantza De La Torre (NIU) def. Vitoria Beirao (SIU) 3-6, 4-6
W: Athena Chrysanthou (SIU) def. Abigail Dekkinga (NIU) 6-0, 6-1
W: Ariadna Cairo Baza (SIU) def. Jennifer Gates (NIU) 6-2, 6-2
Players Mentioned
