McLean County Times

The Illinois State women's tennis team faced a challenging match against Purdue, resulting in a 6-1 loss at the Schwartz Tennis Center in West Lafayette, Indiana. Graduate student Elena Jankulovska secured the sole victory for the Redbirds with a hard-fought win over Ece Gencer of Purdue. Jankulovska triumphed in a tiebreaker with scores of 6-4, 4-6, 11-9.

Head coach Maja Kovacek expressed satisfaction with her team's performance despite the defeat. "I thought we needed more time to adjust to their pace in doubles and got going a bit late. I'm really happy with how we played in singles right from the start. We competed hard in every spot and forced our opponents to beat us. I think this is a very encouraging starting point for our season," Kovacek said.

In other singles matches, Carmen Gallardo Guevara defeated Lana Caculovic 6-2, 6-2; Ida Clement won against Silvia Pomarolli 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7); Fatima Gutierrez overcame Emma Lindh 6-1, 6-2; Juana Larranaga bested Nuria Sanz 6-4, 6-2; and Tara Katarina Milic prevailed over Nicole Iosio with scores of 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The doubles matches saw Tara Katarina Milic and Carmen Gallardo Guevara defeating Lana Caculovic and Silvia Pomarolli with a score of 6-1. The duo of Carmen Gallardo Gutierrez and Kathryn Wilson also claimed victory over Emma Lindh and Elena Jankulovska by winning their match at 6-3. The third doubles match featuring Ashlie Wilson and Ida Clement against Nicole Iosio and Nuria Sanz was left unfinished at a score of 4-3.

Looking ahead, the Redbirds will travel to Iowa City for their next match against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Monday, January 20th at noon inside the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex.

For updates on Illinois State women's tennis, fans can visit GoRedbirds.com or follow the team on social media platforms including "X" (@RedbirdWTEN), Facebook (Illinois State Women's Tennis Team), and Instagram (redbirdwtennis).