The Northern Illinois University women’s tennis team extended its winning streak to six matches and won its 20th match of the season, tying the school record for wins in a season, with a 5-2 victory over Western Michigan Sunday at the Nelson Tennis Center at Chick Evans Field House.

NIU tied the school record set by the 1984-85 Huskies, who finished the season with a 20-7 record.

“We just fought,” said NIU head coach Eric Burns. “It wasn’t our best day of tennis, we weren’t the best on some of the big points, but we kept fighting and we hung in there. It was a tough match.”

NIU came back after losing the doubles point to win three-set matches at No. 1, 3 and 4 singles. Freshman Lucia Yecora put the first NIU point on the board with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory on the third line.  A few minutes later, junior Nataly Ninova gave the Huskies the lead as she defeated Marielou Baudouin 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.  At No. 1 singles, Maria Dzemeshkevich took a 4-1 lead in the deciding third set versus Lola Glantz, before Glantz came back to tie the set at 5-5. Dzemeshkevich won the next two games to earn the win.

“[The three set wins] is just a testament to how bad they wanted it and how much they’re willing to fight this year,” Burns said. “Masha [Dzemeshkevich] came up with a deuce point at five all in the third and was able to hold in there and pull the match out.”

As NIU’s Isabella Righi and Theodora Kousiou took the courts at No. 5 and 6 with NIU leading 3-2, Burns said he had confidence in his players.

“Those are two pretty good five and six players right there,” Burns said. “We felt really good about them. Theodora had played [her opponent] a few weeks ago and was able to get that match in straight sets, so we felt good about that match as long as she was locked in. Isa played an opponent she hadn’t played before and really ran the game plan well against her.”

Righi clinched the Huskie victory with a 6-2, 6-3 win over WMU’s Audrey Smitek at No. 5 singles and Kousiou, a freshman, provided the final margin, defeating Julia Frazier, 6-2, 6-2.

“This win has put us in a very good position to make the [MAC] tournament, which is one of our goals,” Burns said. “I’m really proud of the way we’ve competed this whole year and today was no exception.”

NIU leads the Mid-American Conference West Division with a 6-1 record.  NIU has not played in the MAC Tournament since the league went to a four-team championship in 2022, and last made the tournament as a number five seed in 2017.

The Huskies have three regular season matches remaining, beginning next Friday (April 11) at Eastern Michigan. NIU’s final home match of the year is on Sunday, April 13 versus Buffalo.