Box Score The Chicago State women's tennis team was eliminated from the 2022 Western Athletic Conference women's tennis tournament with a 4-0 loss to New Mexico State Friday afternoon at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center in Beaumont, Texas. The Aggies advance to face the winner of the No. 3 Stephen F. Austin/No. 6 Sam Houston matchup on Saturday, April 23.
The Cougars trailed early in doubles, dropping a 6-1 decision at No. 1 before
Diana Borodina and
Sofiya Sedovich teamed for a 6-2 victory at No. 3, leaving the team point up for grabs at No. 2 where
Kristina Pukhaeva and Katrina Dukic trailed 5-4. After tying the match 5-5, the Aggies rallied to take a 6-5 lead and ultimately won 7-5 and New Mexico State claimed the doubles point.
"I think we realized today how unforced errors can change the match," head coach
Jack Barton said. "We had too many when it counted. Four unforced errors in one game is hard to come back from, particularly in doubles in a championship tournament and the doubles point on the line. Had we cut out the errors we would have been in a better position to win doubles and maybe win the match. The little details cost us today."
The Cougars and Aggies met earlier this season with New Mexico State earning a 4-3 win. In that match, the Cougars captured the doubles point but the Aggies responded with three consecutive singles wins and added the fourth in the final match for the victory.
In today's match the Aggies earned first-set wins in each match except No. 6 where
Katarina Dukic won 6-4 and
Sofiya Sedovich was leading in the second set and both matches were left unfinished when NMSU clinched four victories and the 4-0 win.
"The effort was there in singles," Barton said. "We were up on three singles courts when the match ended and, with the doubles point, this may have been different. My hats off to NMSU, they played very well. I'm proud of our team and their commitment this season. We are looking forward to next year."
Katarina Dukic led the Cougars with 12 match victories this season and shared most WAC singles wins (3) with
Sofiya Sedovich.
Kristina Pukhaeva had 10 wins with seven of those at No. 2 singles. The duo of
Diana Borodina and
Sofiya Sedovich lead the team in WAC doubles victories with four and were 4-1 at No. 3 while
Katarina Drazic and
Lizi Morgoshia had a conference win at No. 1 doubles and
Katarina Dukic and
Kristina Pukhaeva earned a conference win at No. 2 and had three victories together overall.
Chicago State University vs New Mexico State University
2022 WAC Women's Tennis Tournament
4/22/2022 at Beaumont, Texas
(Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center)
New Mexico State 4, Chicago State University 0
Singles competition
1. Chloe Gavino (NMSU) def.
Katarina Drazic (CSUW) 6-2, 6-2
2. Mingfang Zhu (NMSU) vs.
Kristina Pukhaeva (CSUW) 6-4, 3-2, unfinished
3. Natsuki Nishimura (NMSU) def.
Diana Borodina (CSUW) 6-3, 6-0
4. Gavi Kalaga (NMSU) vs.
Sofiya Sedovich (CSUW) 6-2, 3-5, unfinished
5. Bella Nguyen (NMSU) def.
Lizi Morgoshia (CSUW) 7-5, 6-2
6. Miranda Bishard (NMSU) vs.
Katarina Dukic (CSUW) 4-6, 4-4, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. Chloe Gavino/Mingfang Zhu (NMSU) def.
Katarina Drazic/
Lizi Morgoshia (CSUW) 6-1
2. Natsuki Nishimura/Gavi Kalaga (NMSU) def.
Katarina Dukic/
Kristina Pukhaeva (CSUW) 7-5
3.
Diana Borodina/
Sofiya Sedovich (CSUW) def. Bella Nguyen/Miranda Bishard (NMSU) 6-2
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,3,5)
About Chicago State
Chicago State University Athletics is comprised of 15 intercollegiate teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and volleyball. CSU held memberships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and NCAA Division II before transitioning to NCAA Division I in 1994. Melvin Bland was the first CSU student-athlete to gain NAIA All-American status in 1974 as a wrestler. Fred Evans became the first black swimmer ever to win a national championship in 1975. In 1991, the Chicago State women's tennis team became the first all-black college team to amass an unbeaten season at the NCAA level. CSU's women's basketball team earned a spot in the 2011 Women's Basketball Invitational and CSU's men's basketball team won the 2013 Great West Conference Tournament title, also making an appearance in the CollegeInside.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). The Men's Outdoor Track & Field 4x100-Meter Relay team were 2019 Honorable Mention All-Americans and WAC Champions. Their feat marked the first time the Chicago State's men's track & field program was represented at the national meet. Chicago State volleyball recorded a historic season in 2021, with Yanlis Feliz becoming CSU's first volleyball All-American and head coach
Tony Trifonov earning selection as WAC Coach of the Year. During that same season, three different CSU teams earned victories over Big Ten opponents with men's soccer beating Northwestern, women's basketball upending Wisconsin and volleyball, which established a school record 17 wins and hosted a post-season volleyball tournament for the first time in program history, swept Indiana in Bloomington.
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