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Women’s tennis falls in MAC opener

March 24, 2012
Haley Dekkinga

Haley Dekkinga

The Northern Illinois women’s tennis team fell to the Broncos of Western Michigan 7-0 in both teams’ Mid-American Conference opener on Friday afternoon at West Hills Athletic Club.

The loss for NIU marked the eighth time in 11 wins that WMU (11-7, 1-0 MAC) shut-out its opponent and moved the Huskies record to 7-6 on the season, 0-1 in MAC play.

“This was a great battle,” said NIU head coach Ryun Ferrell. “We played forever. We had so many chances to get a lot of these matches into the third set. We came up short. We have many lessons to learn, which we will learn and continue to improve.”

The Huskies failed to record a win for the first time all season, as even the doubles play was shut out after the team of sophomore Arantza De La Torre (San Luis Potosi, Mexico/Motolinia) and freshman Nelle Youel (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) narrowly lost to the WMU combination of Maria Nivia and Jill Pastunink 8-7.

Sophomore Haley Dekkinga (Allegan, Mich./Allegan) and freshman Stephanie McDonald (Harare, Zimbabwe/St. Anne’s Diocesan College) lost for just the third time this season and sit with a record of 7-3 in doubles play after falling 8-4 to Kathleen Hawkins and Caroline Aleck.

The Huskies will look to bounce back against the Bowling Green Falcons at noon today in Bowling Green, Ohio.

For more information on NIU women’s tennis and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.