DEKALB, Ill. – The Western Michigan women's tennis team came back for an impressive win in their final road regular season match of the year, winning four of six singles matches against Northern Illinois as the Broncos defeated the Huskies 4-3 on Sunday afternoon. The Broncos improve to 14-8 overall on the season and are now 6-1 in Mid-American Conference play.
The win, coupled with Toledo's loss to Eastern Michigan earlier this weekend, means the Broncos will finish no worse than second place in the conference. As such, the Broncos clinched a bye to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament. WMU could still potentially earn a share of the conference regular season championship, but cannot earn the top seed in the bracket due to tiebreakers.
Tracy Kuhle tied the team match up a 1-all with a dominant win over Arantza De La Torre in the No. 4 singles match, winning 6-1, 6-1 to even up the team competition. Meika Ashby was there to tie it again two matches later, beating Cristina Alvarez 6-3, 6-0 in the No. 2 singles match to make it 2-2. Barbare Eristavi blew past Mary Malkin 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 3 singles match to make it 3-2, and Yuriko Ono clinched the team victory with a 6-3, 6-1 victory in the No. 6 match.
The doubles pairing of Eristavi and Ono improved to 17-5 on the season with their sixth straight doubles win by beating the duo of Alvarez and Dekkinga 7-5 in the No. 2 doubles match. Olivia Myers and Kuhle very nearly allowed the Broncos the chance to take the doubles point but were edged out by Malkin and Evelyn Youel in the No. 3 doubles match, falling 7-5 in a tiebreaker to lose 7-6 (5).
Singles
1. Nelle Youel (NIU) def. Olivia Myers (WMU) 6-0, 6-3
2. Meika Ashby (WMU) def. Cristina Alvarez (NIU) 6-3, 6-0
3. Barbare Eristavi (WMU) def. Mary Malkin (NIU) 6-2, 6-2
4. Tracy Kuhle (WMU) def. Arantza De La Torre (NIU) 6-1, 6-1
5. Evelyn Youel (NIU) def. Caroline Aleck (WMU) 6-4, 2-1, ret.
6. Yuriko Ono (WMU) def. Abigail Dekkinga (NIU) 6-3, 6-1
Order of finish: 4,1,2,3,6,5
Doubles
1. Nelle Youel/Arantza De La Torre (NIU) def. Meika Ashby/Caroline Aleck (WMU) 6-3
2. Barbare Eristavi/Yuriko Ono (WMU) def. Cristina Alvarez/Abigail Dekkinga (NIU) 7-5
3. Evelyn Youel/Mary Malkin (NIU) def. Olivia Myers/Tracy Kuhle (WMU) 7-6 (5)
Order of finish: 1,2,3
