Northern Illinois University number one singles player Maria Dzemeshkevich defeated Toledo’s Audrey Moutama, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the Huskies’ 4-3 win over the Rockets Friday at the Nelson Tennis Center at Chick Evans Field House, giving NIU its first win over Toledo since 2017.

“For us to break through and get a big win, especially at home, is great for us,” said NIU head coach Eric Burns. “It’s been a while since we’ve beat [Toledo] and they’re defending MAC champions so for us to break through here and get a big win at home is great for us.”

Dzemeshkevich came back after losing the first set and trailing 2-0 in the second to win six of the next seven games to take the match to a third set. She took a 5-2 lead in the final set and closed out Moutama after the Rocket had closed the gap to 5-4.

“I’m so proud of [Dzemeshkevich], she’s got such high ability, but sometimes she’s not always 100 percent confident in herself,” Burns said. “To see her be able to pull through – which she’s done in some big matches for us previous – is going to help us going forward. This was another great win for her.”

NIU got off to a good start against the defending MAC tournament champions by winning the doubles point as the Huskies’ No. 2 and 3 doubles team each scored 6-4 wins.

“The doubles point was huge,” Burns said. “We had to get that to get this match.  We were more aggressive at No. 2 and 3 doubles today. We were going after balls at the net and taking a few more chances.”

Junior Nataly Ninova put the Huskies up 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Jone Ibanez at No. 4 singles. The matches at No. 1, 2 and 3 singles all went three sets. Freshman Lucia Yecora won her first set on the third line 6-4, then dropped the second 6-1. She shut out UT’s Gaby Rondon 6-0 in the third to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead.

Toledo earned the three-set win at No. 2 singles to put the Rockets’ first point on the board and won at No. 5 and 6 after Dzemeshkevich had already put the match-clinching win on the board at the number one spot.

“There’s no quit in the team, they’re going to fight back, especially here at home,” Burns said. “We’ve been pretty good lately in three-set matches here lately. They did a great job of digging in and fighting back.”

In its second match of the day, and final non-conference match, NIU scored a 7-0 win over Chicago State. The Huskies lost just six games in two doubles and four singles matches against the under-manned Cougars. Jenna Horne and Sydney Paradise each defeated their opponents 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 and 4 singles, respectively, while Paradise teamed with Irmak Budak for a 6-0 win at No. 2 doubles.

With the two wins Friday, NIU head coach Eric Burns moved into second place on NIU’s all-time women’s tennis coaching wins list with 88. The Huskies improved to 17-4 overall and 3-1 in the MAC. NIU is next in action Sunday when they play host to Ball State in the Nelson Tennis Center beginning at 1 pm.