OMAHA, NEB. – One streak ended Friday afternoon and another one continued as the Indiana State women’s tennis team rallied to defeat the Creighton Bluejays 4-3 in a Missouri Valley Conference contest.
The win was the 16th straight Valley regular season victory for Indiana State and their fourth straight win of the season. The Creighton Bluejays had won 10 straight matches heading into the contest against Indiana State but the Sycamores snapped that winning streak.
“This was not our best match,” Martha Montano, Indiana State assistant tennis coach, said. “We struggled but were still able to pull out the win.”
Playing their third straight match with just four players available, the Sycamores lost the doubles point and trailed 3-0 heading into the singles portion of the match. Victories by freshman Anna Morgina, junior Sofya Lifanova and freshman Elmine Botes evened the match at 3-all.
That left the team score up to the No. 1 singles event between ISU sophomore Sarah Meghoufel and Bluejay junior Tess Reddin. Meghoufel dropped the first set 4-6 and was down 2-5 in the second set before staging a furious comeback. The Sycamore veteran rallied to win the second set 7-6, going on to take the third set with a 6-0 win and giving the team victory to the Sycamores.
Meghoufel, who has yet to lose a singles match in Missouri Valley Conference play, has now won 11 straight in the MVC and has a current winning streak of five matches.
This was the fourth straight match that the Sycamores have swept the singles portion of a match. Besides Meghoufel’s win, Morgina topped Lauren Mastro 7-5, 6-0 at No. 2 singles, Lifanova swept Kelsey Schmidt 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 singles, and Botes stopped Nicole Nakaoka 6-2, 6-0 at No. 4 singles.
Botes has also won five straight in singles while Lifanova and Morgina has won four straight in singles.
In doubles, Lifanova and Morgina posted an 8-1 win over Leesa Cadwallader and Sarah Cadwallader at No. 2 doubles. However, Meghoufel and Botes were edged 9-8 at No. 1 doubles by Reddin and Nakaoka at No. 1 doubles, giving the doubles point to the Bluejays.
The Sycamores (5-8 overall and 3-0 in the MVC) will be playing at Wichita State on Saturday against the 71st ranked Shockers. The match is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. (ET).
