The Northern Illinois University women’s tennis team started, and finished, strong Sunday to earn a 6-1 Mid-American Conference win over Bowling Green at the Sycamore High School Courts on a picture-perfect day for tennis.

The Huskies earned the doubles point with near simultaneous 6-2 wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles by the Huskie duos of Erika Dimitriev and Nataly Ninova and Jenna Horne and Anastasia Rakita, respectively.

“You have to get the doubles point in this league,” said NIU head coach Eric Burns. “It’s absolutely critical for us. We’ve been close a couple times and fallen short [of the doubles point] so it was good to get out and dominate the doubles to start today.”

The domination carried over to singles with all five wins coming in straight sets.  Isabella Righi put NIU’s second point on the board with a 6-0, 6-2 sin over Tia Clemens at No. 3 singles and the Huskies picked up another point when the Falcons’ No. 2 player retired.

After Bowling Green picked up a point with a win at No. 5 singles, NIU senior Diana Lukyanova clinched the match with a victory at No. 1.  Lukyanova dominated the first set 6-1, before being pushed to a second set tiebreaker. Trailing 4-0 in the tiebreaker, Lukyanova won six straight points before claiming the set and the match for the Huskies.

“This was a good team win for us,” Burns said. “Everyone played really well, especially this being only our second time playing outside this spring and juggling our line-up with Reagan [Welch] out. Angelica [Ross} came in and did a nice job and we’re going to try to carry this into the next match with Ball State [on Friday].”

Nataly Ninova and Angelica Ross won at No. 4 and 6 singles, respectively, to provide the final two points for NIU.

The Huskies improved to 14-10 overall, 3-5 in the MAC with the win, while Bowling Green fell to 7-13 and 0-8.

NIU plays its final home match Friday, April 19 versus Ball State before traveling to Buffalo for the regular season finale.

NIU 6, Bowling Green 1

April 14, 2024 – 2 pm

Sycamore, Illinois – Sycamore High School Courts

Singles

1. Diana Lukyanova (NIU) def. Lucy Furness (BG) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5)
2. Erika Dimitriev (NIU) def. Hannah Neuman (BG) 6-4, 2-0 (retired)
3. Isabella Righi (NIU) def. Tia Clemens (BG) 6-0, 6-2
4. Nataly Ninova (NIU) def. Isabella Baker (BG) 6-3, 7-5
5. Leticia Fonseca (BG) def. Jenna Horne (NIU) 6-4, 6-2
6. Angelica Ross (NIU) def. Brynn Chaffee (BG) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles

1. Diana Lukyanova/Isabella Righi (NIU) vs. Lucy Furness/Hannah Neuman (BG) 5-4 (unfinished)
2. Erika Dimitriev/Nataly Ninova (NIU) def. Isabella Baker/Leticia Fonseca (BG) 6-2
3. Jenna Horne/Anastasia Rakita (NIU) def. Brynn Chaffee/Tia Clemens (BG) 6-2

Order of Finish

Doubles (2, 3); Singles (2, 3, 5, 1, 4, 6)