The Illinois State women’s tennis team took a trip to El Paso, Texas, to face UTEP and Lamar at the El Paso Tennis Club. The Redbirds took two losses to UTEP and Lamar, 6-1 and 5-2, respectively.

The ’Birds played their first outdoor matches since the fall of 2012, but despite being in Texas, the cold weather proved to be a struggle.

To start out for the doubles, Emmie Marx and Kadi Ilves took a loss to Martina Trierweiler and Rebecca Calvillo, 8-3. Then Carolina Abello and Heather Nisbet snagged a victory against Jamie-Leigh Michau and Anastasiya Sylenko, 8-4. Phyllis Tigges and Stefanie Youngberg were bested by Marie Leblonde and Gabi Vasquez, 8-4, seizing UTEP’s success in doubles.

“This weekend we faced several challenges,” women’s tennis head coach Chris Hoover said. “We had time changes, the wind, the glare of the sun, as well as cool temperatures. In general, this was a tough weekend for us, but a valuable learning weekend as well. Hopefully we take from this the things we need to do to improve.”

When it was time for singles competition, the ’Birds grabbed the first win when Youngberg dominated against Michau,   6-1, 6-0. This is the fourth-consecu
tive win for Youngberg in singles play.     

Soon after, Trierweiler defeated ISU’s Tigges, 6-3, 6-2. Phillips suffered a loss to freshman, Matilda Rose Tench, 6-0, 6-2. The rest of the ISU team could not pull out victories, resulting in a score of 6-1.

Lamar 5, Illinois State 2

When Saturday came, the doubles started out promising. The ’Birds duo Marx and Tigges claimed a victory against Carolina Salas and Helen Czudek, 8-3. The momentum shifted as Youngberg and Abello faced a loss of 8-2 to Alicia Porte and Carolina Masó. Then, Ashton and Nisbet were defeated by Natalia Mayagoitia and Dariya Dashutina, 8-4.

During singles, Marx beat Salas 6-2, 4-6, 10-3, at the No. 1 spot. In the No. 2 spot, Abello bested Port, 6-4, 6-3.

The Lamar Cardinals found success during the rest of the singles matches, dominating the Redbirds, 5-2.

“The match was much closer than the score reflects,” Hoover said. “We were dealing with a line-up change, too, with Kadi [Ilves] getting sick on Friday.”

ISU will continue to practice for their upcoming match against Illinois-Chicago at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 2. The match will be at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington.