Miami University
Illinois
Tennis Battles Illinois, but Falls 5-2
1/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 25, 2009
URBANA, Ill. -- For the third time in eight days, Miami's tennis team battled a Top 40 opponent to the wire. And for the third straight time, the RedHawks dropped a close match.
Sunday afternoon at No. 37 Illinois, Miami took the doubles point before trailing early in singles, then saw a rally fall short in a 5-2 loss to the Fighting Illini.
Anastasia Dracheva and Monica Gorny started things off with an 8-5 victory at No. 2 doubles, but Illinois captured the No. 3 doubles match 8-6. That brought the first point of the match down to the final contest. Megan Martzolf and Stephanie Danesis rebounded from a heartbreaking loss on Friday to capture a 9-8 decision. The RedHawks won the deciding tiebreaker by a score of 7-2.
Singles play started out with Illinois taking an early lead across the board. The Illini won the first set in all but one of the six matches, but were forced to three sets twice. The RedHawks nearly pushed two more to the extra set.
Illinois (1-1) tied the match at one when Amy Allin defeated Martzolf 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). However, the sophomore was up 6-5 in the second set before dropping the last two games. Gorny fell 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2 singles before Danesis pulled Miami even at 2-2 with a 6-1, 7-5 victory at No. 3. She trailed 5-4 in the second set before winning three straight games.
UI pulled ahead 3-2 after Dracheva fell 7-5, 6-4 to Leigh Finnegan -- ranked 89th in the country -- at No. 1 singles, but the RedHawks tried to rally.
Riekie Honiball and Brintney Larson both dropped their first set but came back strong in the second, only to fall 6-1 in the third. Honiball, playing No. 6, lost 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, while No. 4 Larson's scores went 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.
The loss is the third straight for Miami (2-3), which also fell to No. 30 Indiana and No. 33 South Carolina during the stretch.
The road doesn'get any easier for the RedHawks as they travel to 23rd-ranked Kentucky next Sunday.
Miami (Ohio) at No. 37 Illinois
Jan. 25, 2009 at Atkins Tennis Center
(Urbana, Ill.)
No. 2 Doubles
Miljana Jocic/Gira Schofield (USC) def. Anastasia Dracheva/Monica Gorny (MIAMI) 8-4
No. 3 Doubles
Riekie Honiball/Brintney Larson (MIAMI) def. Suzanna Mansour/Ashley Miller (USC) 8-3
No. 1 Doubles
#33 Natasa Vuckovic/Ana Marija Zubori (USC) def. Stephanie Danesis/Megan Martzolf (MIAMI) 9-7
No. 5 Singles
Amy Allin (ILL) def. Megan Martzolf (MIAMI) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
No. 2 Singles
Megan Fudge (ILL) def. Monica Gorny (MIAMI) 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 Singles
Stephanie Danesis (MIAMI) def. Chelcie Abajian (ILL) 6-1, 7-5
No. 1 Singles
#89 Leigh Finnegan (ILL) def. Anastasia Dracheva (MIAMI) 7-5, 6-4
No. 6 Singles
Kristina Minor (ILL) def. Riekie Honiball (MIAMI) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
No. 4 Singles
Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) def. Brintney Larson (MIAMI) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1
