Feb. 10, 2013

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Northern Illinois women's tennis team continued its excellent start to their 2013 spring season with a 7-0 victory over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Sunday in Edwardsville, Illinois.

The Huskies earned their fifth win in six matches this spring, while the Cougars fell to 2-3.

The Huskies won two of three doubles matches to take the doubles point with the No. 1 duo of Nelle Youel and Arantza De La Torre keeping their perfect spring record intact with an 8-3 win over Lindsey Raymond and Kali Donner. NIU's team of Haley Dekkinga and Stephanie McDonald recorded an 8-6 win at No. 3 doubles to give Northern Illinois the point.

Spurred on by the win in doubles, Northern Illinois swept through the Cougars' singles line-up. Youel and Dekkinga scored dominating victories at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively. Mary Malkin's win at No. 4 singles was equally as impressive as she took out Amanda Miller, 6-1, 6-1.

Youel improved her singles record to 6-0 with her win to go along with her unblemished mark in doubles.

"This was a very solid performance," said NIU Head Coach Ryun Ferrell after the win. "SIUE came out very strong in the doubles. We needed discipline to be successful and that is what this team showed today. We are young but we are beginning to figure it out."

Northern Illinois continues its five-match road swing next weekend in Indianapolis when the Huskies will take on IUPUI (Friday), Indianapolis (Saturday) and Butler (Sunday).

Doubles
No. 1 Nelle Youel/Arantza De La Torre (NIU) def. Lindsey Raymond/Kali Donner (SIUE), 8-3
No. 2 Monique Krutak/Sierra Halverson (SIUE) def. Mary Malkin/Cristina Alvarez (NIU), 8-5
No. 3 Haley Dekkinga/Stephanie McDonald (NIU) def. McKenzie Thomas/Amanda Miler (SIUE), 8-6

Singles
No. 1 Nelle Youel (NIU) def. Monique Krutak (SIUE) - 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 Haley Dekkinga (NIU) def. Kali Donner (SIUE) - 6-1, 6-0
No. 3 Arantza De La Torre (NIU) def. Haley Ilcewicz (SIUE) - 4-6, 6-4 (10-5)
No. 4 Mary Malkin (NIU) def. Amanda Miller (SIUE) - 6-1, 6-1
No. 5 Cristina Alvarez (NIU) def. Sierra Halverson (SIUE) - 6-3, 7-6
No. 6 Stephanie McDonald (NIU) def. McKenzie Thomas (SIUE) - 8-7 (2)

-- NIU --

Twitter: @NIUAthletics
Facebook: NIU Huskies