Plainfield, Ill. — The short-handed Chicago State women's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to Lewis University Thursday at the Five Star Tennis Center in Plainfield, Illinois. The Cougars only filled two doubles teams and five of six singles spots as players work their way back into the lineup from injury while Katarina Drazic and Susana Andres both picked up their second wins of the season.
The Flyers captured the doubles point winning two of three matches. Kristina Pukhaeva and Katarina Drazic dropped a 6-2 decision at No. 1 and Sofiya Sedovich and Susana Andres won 6-2 at No. 2. The Cougars did not compete at No. 3.
"Today was definitely a missed opportunity for us," associate head coach Wyatt Pauley said. "We competed well but came up short in pressure situations. Matches like today are hard to swallow, but we'll make sure to be ready to go for our first WAC cluster. Hopefully we'll have a few injured players returning to the lineup just in time."
Drazic and Andres led the charge in singles with Drazic winning 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 at No. 3 and Andres won 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5. Kristina Pukhaeva lost 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1 and Sofiya Sedovich lost a tightly-contested match 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) at No. 2. Katarina Dukic also won her first set, 6-3, but dropped the next two, 6-0, 6-4, for the loss at No. 4. The Cougars did not compete at No. 6.
The Cougars will begin Western Athletic Conference play the next time they take the court. Chicago State will travel to Silver City, Utah, March 19 and 20 to take on Tarleton State and Texas Rio Grande Valley, respectively.
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