Box Score The Chicago State women's tennis team opened Horizon League play this morning with a 6-1 win over Oakland at the H-F Racquet & Fitness Club in Homewood, Illinois. The Cougars had 21 days off between matches, having last played at Eastern Illinois March 10, a 6-1 CSU victory. Chicago State came out ready to play despite the layoff, winning the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and 2, leaving the match at No. 3 unfinished with CSU leading. The Cougars then won five of the six singles matches but had to battle back after dropping the first set in two three-set wins and winning tiebreakers in two other matches.
"The only word I can think of for this match is outstanding," head coach
Jack Barton said. "We hadn't played a match in 20 days and during that time we had to deal with injuries, illness, and just being on the unfortunate side of life issues. Every day, up to today, brought a brand new challenge we had to work through. I knew that we had to be in this match mentally, so Adey(associate head coach Adesuwa Osabuohien) told them to put their helmets on and block out the noise. And that's what they did. Oakland came out fired up in singles and we held them off. A few weeks ago this match could have been totally different.
"I think they are at a point where they can put their trust in each other regardless of what a day brings and that's the beauty of this season. You don't know what a bad day is until all the days are accounted for. From that lesson, we are getting better every day.
"My hat is off to Amini (Taibi). We had to unexpectedly pull Cali (Fuller) out after doubles so we moved everyone up and Amina went out with no warm up and won her singles match. All the ladies stepped up their game today. The match was cliched but Katarina (Dukic) and Kristina(Pukhaeva) fought back after being down in their third sets and won their matches."
Compete results listed below.
The Cougars will be back on the court and continue Horizon League play on Friday, April 7 at 10 a.m., traveling to Youngstown, Ohio to take on Youngstown State and Saturday, April 8 at Cleveland State.
Oakland vs Chicago State
April 01, 2023 at Homewood, Illinois
(H-F Racquet and Fitness Club)
Chicago State 6, Oakland 1
Singles competition
1.
Katarina Dukic (CSU-W) def. Yasmin Glazbrook (OAK) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
2.
Kristina Pukhaeva (CSU-W) def. Jillian Milano (OAK) 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5)
3.
Sofiya Sedovich (CSU-W) def. Isabelle Popma (OAK) 7-6 (9-7), 6-0
4. Manuella Eloundou-Ng (CSU-W) def. Nirva Patel (OAK) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
5. Tegan Heaton (OAK) def.
Ethel Li (CSU-W) 6-1, 6-2
6.
Amina Taibi (CSU-W) def. Emma Hultqvist (OAK) 7-6 (9-7), 6-1
Doubles competition
1.
Kristina Pukhaeva/
Sofiya Sedovich (CSU-W) def. Nirva Patel/Yasmin Glazbrook (OAK) 6-0
2.
Cali Fuller/Manuella Eloundou-Ng (CSU-W) def. Jillian Milano/Tegan Heaton (OAK) 6-2
3.
Ethel Li/
Katarina Dukic (CSU-W) vs. Isabelle Popma/Emma Hultqvist (OAK) 5-3, unfinished
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (5,6,4,3,1,2)
About Chicago State Athletics
Chicago State University Athletics is composed 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.
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