Feb. 26, 2011
KALAMAZOO, MICH.- The UIC women's tennis took half of the singles points from Western Michigan this afternoon, but the Flames dropped the decisive double point and match against the Broncos, 4-3.
"Falling short once again to a good team is disappointing for sure," said head coach Shannon Tully. "The doubles play was key today, and we just didn't get it done."
"On a positive note, it was good to get Elisa [Simonetti] back into the singles line-up, and despite her loss, she competed well for her first time back. We got some very solid wins in singles from Jana [Knoppe], Ilinca [Cristescu], and Teona [Tsertsvadze], while losing some really tight matches at the other spots. I thought we battled very hard and did a good job of staying composed through some adversity and distractions.
At the top flight for the doubles matchup, juniors Mariya Kovaleva and Linda Hricistova couldn't secure their team best seventh win of the season and fell to WMU's April Kerr and Amanda Moccia, 9-7. Senior Ilinca Cristescu and junior Teona Tsertsvadze at the No. 2 doubles position fell by the same score to WMU's Maria Nivia and Nini Sujashvili, 9-7.
Freshman Jana Knoppe recorded the first point for the Flames at the No. 5 slot, when she defeated WMU's Miloslava Shustova in straight sets, 7-6 (1), 6-1. Tsertsvadze grinded out her match at the No. 2 singles position, with a win over WMU's Maria Nivia in three sets, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 1-0. Cristescu defeated WMU's Jill Pastunink in straight sets, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
The senior Cristescu is eleven games shy of becoming the all-time leading singles wins leader for the Flames, coming in at 73 wins for her career at the moment.
UIC will be back in action, when they return home to the Match Point Tennis Club in Griffith, Ind., on Saturday, March 5. The Flames welcome Northern Iowa, and the match is expected to start at 1 p.m. CST.
Western Michigan 4, UIC 3
SINGLES:
1. Maggie Remynse (WMU) def. Mariya Kovaleva (UIC) 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2
2. Teona Tsertsvadze (UIC) def. Maria Nivia (WMU) 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 1-0
3. Ilinca Cristescu (UIC) def. Jill Pastunink (WMU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
4. Nini Sujashvili (WMU) def. Elisa Simonetti (UIC) 6-0, 2-6, 6-3
5. Jana Knoppe (UIC) def. Miloslava Shustova (WMU) 7-6 (7-1), 6-1
6. Amanda Moccia (WMU) def. Linda Hricistova (UIC) 6-3, 6-2
DOUBLES:
1. Kerr/Moccia (WMU) def. Kovaleva/Hricistova (UIC) 9-7
2. Nivia/Sujashvili (WMU) def. Tsertsvadze/Cristescu (UIC) 9-7
3. Pastunink/Remynse (WMU) def. Simonetti/Knoppe (UIC) 8-1
ORDER OF FINISH
Singles: (6,5,4,3,1)
Doubles: (3,1,2)
