Photo via Scout archives
The Bradley women’s tennis team opened its season against Southeast Missouri State on
Jan. 26 and Northern Illinois University on Jan. 27. The opening weekend contained defeat, victory, and even history in the making.
The Braves struggled in the doubles competitions against Southeast Missouri State, losing all
three matches 6-3, 7-6 and 6-2. Bradley later found its stride in the singles competitions, winning three of the six matches. But it was not enough to beat out the Redhawks, who ended up taking the win 4-3.
Bradley’s head coach Matt Tyler stayed optimistic about his team’s consistency, and said he was proud of the effort put forth.
“It was a tough loss for sure,” Tyler said. “I think it’s one that we had some chances [and] some
opportunities to come away with, but overall, I was happy with the performance.”
Junior Malini Wijesinghe got a chance to play at the three spot in the singles competitions,
a position she is not accustomed to. Wijesinghe ended the match with a loss but
remained positive.
“I was happy to be playing up there,” Wijesinghe said. “I’ve always liked to be challenged. I
prefer to play somebody better than me. I learned that I need to stick with my own game and be
aggressive.”
The match against Northern Illinois was a different story, as the Braves won all three of their
doubles against the Huskies. Bradley also went on to win five of the six singles competitions.
Among the singles competitions, Alexa Brandt dropped her first set, but she emerged victorious for the 2-6, 6-0 and 6-1 win.
Tyler said Brandt’s performance demonstrated an impressive rebound.
“[Winning after dropping the first set is] a hard thing to do. You lose that first set, you’re in a
hole,” Tyler said. “To mentally stick with it and beat the girl the way that [Brandt] did in the
second and third sets…she had an outstanding performance to turn it around.”
The Braves won against Northern Illinois 6-1, improving to 1-1 and earning the first win of the
season. With it, Tyler became the second-winningest head coach in Bradley
women’s tennis history. With 41 wins, he trails only Barb Nicoll, who accumulated 103 wins over
11 seasons from 1985-94.
“He has really turned this program around,” Wijesinghe said. “He puts a lot of time and effort into the team. When you choose to coach something, you have to be passionate about not only the sport, but also the people. He really cares, not just about the wins in tennis but also about us.”
The team will go on to face University of Wisconsin-Madison and Chicago State University this
weekend at Wisconsin. Though traveling is not a concern Tyler said playing on a foreign court surface is.
“Each facility has a different surface,” Tyler said. “We have never played at the University of
Wisconsin, so I don’t know what to expect out of their court surface. We’ll practice there Friday
[Feb. 3] at night and try to get a feel for it.”
Bradley is currently 0-8 against BIG 10 conference tennis teams. The upcoming match against
the University of Wisconsin and the Feb. 25 match against the University of Iowa will be the
Braves’ chance to end that winless record.
“[Beating a BIG 10 team] would be a big breakthrough for us,” Wijesinghe said. “We’re at the
point now where we are about to breakthrough. It would put our tennis team on the map.”
