LAS VEGAS — Sophomore Carmen Peters and junior Natalia Lech broke their singles, five-match losing streaks as Illinois State defeated Utah State (USU), 6-1, Sunday at UNLV’s Fertitta Tennis Center. The win also marks Peters’s first dual singles win of the season.
The contest started with singles play, where the Redbirds claimed five out of the six matches. Peters was the first Redbird to win a point. She bested USU’s Carla Limon in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0, in Flight 5. Redbird teammate Hannah Esker followed suit defeating USU’s Britney Watts, 6-1, 6-0, in Flight 6.
Lech defeated USU’s Monica Abella Calleja, 6-3, 6-1, in Flight 3.
Illinois State clinched the match victory in Flight 2 where Julia Zubkova won over Bridette Strickland, 6-0, 7-6 (7-1). Senior Tanja Hrovatic added to the Redbird victory after besting Taylor Perry, 6-3, 6-3, in Flight 4.
With the match decided, Franziska Steinhardt’s Flight 1 singles match went into a super tiebreaker, where Steinhardt lost to Hailey Swenson, 5-7, 6-1, 10-5.
Due to injury, the Flight 2 doubles match was not played. However, even with the Illinois State win, the Flight 1 and Flight 3 doubles matches were still played.
The duo of Hrovatic and Lech defeated Strickland and Swenson, 8-6 in Flight 1, and the pairing of Peters and Esker bested Perry and Watts of USU, 8-6, in Flight 3.
“I am just really proud of the way the girls played this weekend,” said head coach Chris Hoover. “I wanted them to fight for every match and that is what they did. We loved our time in Las Vegas, but we are ready to come home and face Eastern.”
The Redbirds went 2-1 on their Las Vegas weekend. The Redbirds will return home to face Eastern Illinois at 7 p.m. Friday at the Evergreen Racquet Club.
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