CHICAGO – After opening its four-match Florida spring break trip in Orlando with a pair of 7-0 losses to NJIT and Liberty, the Chicago State University women's tennis team managed to bounce back with two close wins over Bucknell and Florida A&M by identical 4-3 scores in its final two contests last weekend.
The Green and White posted an early 1-0 lead in the Bucknell match by earning the doubles point after seniors Juan Rosalia and Juan Rosalina Tejoprayitno (Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia/Taruna Nusa Harapan) claimed an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles over Dumitrita Iepuras and Daria Tuzhikova. In the No. 2 doubles contest, the CSU tandem of sophomore Karyn Emeralda (Jakarta, Indonesia/) and junior Ruta Grinvalde (Cesis, Latvia/) defeated BU's Lydia Colvin and Elena Vidrascu via an 8-1 margin.
Juan Rosalia opened singles play with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Iepuras at No. 1, while Emeralda, the reigning Great West Conference Player of the Week, produced a 6-0, 6-4 win at No. 2 against Courtney Casey.
The match was clinched for CSU at the No. 3 singles contest as Juan Rosalina tallied an easy 6-0, 6-2 victory over Colvin.
The Green and White opened the FAMU match in the same fashion by claiming a 1-0 advantage after winning a pair of doubles matches. Juan Rosalia and Emeralda recorded an 8-3 victory over Kathline Durden and Alexis Brown at No. 1 doubles, while Juan Rosalina and Grinvalde faced off against Bethany Holt and Elysia Ortiz in a hotly-contested No. 2 doubles contest before squeezing out a 9-8 win.
Despite the Lady Rattlers claiming wins at No. 4, 5 and 6 singles, CSU kept its composure to battle back with victories by Juan Rosalina posting a 6-0, 6-0 shutout at No. 1 singles over Britney Dean and Emeralda at No. 2 singles via a 6-2, 6-2 win over Brown.
After earning a close 7-5 win in the first set of her No. 3 singles match against Durden, Juan Rosalia claimed the match for the Cougars by posting a 6-2 victory in the second set.
CSU, who improved its season record to 4-12 with the wins, returns to action this Friday evening with a road contest against host Western Michigan in Kalamazoo with a start time of 5 p.m., central.
~CSU~
