After a competitive Spring Break, the Illinois State women’s tennis team was able to pick two wins out of its three matches this week.

The Redbirds Spring Break road trip began in Cedar Rapids last weekend as the ‘Birds picked up their first win against Coe College, 6-1. The Redbirds finished their spring break matches this weekend with a win against Detroit-Mercy, 6-1, and a tough loss to Memphis, 6-1.  

“We have been playing pretty well this season,” said head coach Chris Hoover. “We have had some great experiences against Division I and II teams so far and going into these matches we were confident and ready to fight for a win.”

ISU vs. Coe College

The Redbirds rolled out of the gates quickly on Saturday as they began by battling Coe College’s doubles team.  Sophomore Ariane Maack and freshman Carolian Abello dominated their opponents, Natalie Bordignon and Sara Ohlman, 8-0, while junior Hannah Esker and Junior Sarah Streitz defeated Hannah Jensen Elizabeth Hoffman, 8-3.

After a tough doubles loss from junior Aniko Kiss and freshman Phyllis Tigges, the Redbirds bounced right back with a series of singles wins to finish the meet. The team put together five wins out of the six singles matches, as Tigges led the way with her win over Jensen, 6-3, 6-2. Abello followed quickly behind as she defeated Tai Lucero, 6-0, 6-2, while Esker took care of Ohlman, 6-2, 6-2.

“I thought Carolina (Abello), Phyllis (Tigges), and Sarah (Streitz) played great,” Hoover said. “We showed up and competed hard, and I liked our effort.”

ISU vs. Detroit-Mercy

Much like the previous week, the 'Birds quickly let their opponents know that they were ready to compete. The Redbirds arrived in Memphis Friday where they began their matches against Detroit-Mercy with three straight double victories.

Kiss and Tigges defeated Julia Fernandes and Carolina Espinosa, 8-5, while Maack and Abello took down Raina Halabi and Elena Strakhova, 8-5. Esker and freshman Heather Nisbett finished off doubles play after defeating Melanie Capuano and Erin Weldon, 8-4.

The Redbirds continued their winning streak as they took five of the six singles matches, securing the win on Friday. Matches began with Esker defeating Fernandes, 6-1, 6-2, followed by Tigges picking up a win against Strakhova, 6-1, 6-3. The only loss on the day came from Kiss as she fell short to Espinosa in tough three-set tie-break, 2-6, 6-1, 10-7.

“We played really well (Friday),” said Hoover. “Our first set of singles was some of the best singles we have played all year. Aniko let up a little bit and had a tough match, and Carolina had a little blip in her second set but other than that we played great.”
ISU vs. Memphis

As the Redbirds returned to the courts on Saturday to finish up their spring break road trip they were unable to complete the 3-match sweep as they were beat by Memphis, 6-1.

The Redbirds began the day as they lost all three of their doubles matches. Kiss and Tigges were defeated by Courtney Collins and Kelly Gray, 8-7, (7-3), while Abello and Maack lost to Mariya Slupska, 8-6. Esker and Nisbett finished doubles play after losing to Adrea Arquis-Garcia, 8-5.

In singles play, Esker provided the Redbirds the only win of day with her victory over Arqui-Garcia, 6-3, 7-5. Kiss lost to Collins, 6-2, 6-1, while Tigges lost to Slupska, 6-2, 6-1.

“I’m not very happy with our performance but our doubles teams played well and hopefully we can work on our game four next match.” Hoover said.

The Redbirds will continue their season this Thursday here at home, as they host Illinois-Chicago at 1:00 p.m.