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Tennis drops two MVC matches

Freshman Natalia Barbery is 11-16 in singles play and 6-20 in doubles play this season.
photo by Justin Limoges

The Bradley tennis team fell to 0-3 in conference play after suffering losses to Evansville and Southern Illinois last weekend. The Braves were without their No. 2 singles player, junior Alejandra de Lasa, who was out with a knee injury. The injury  forced head coach Matt Tyler to shuffle the lineup.

Going into the weekend matches without de Lasa, Tyler said he was still confident his team would be able to win because of their depth.

“Not having Alejandra in the lineup because of a knee injury certainly hurt us, but because we have a lot of depth on the team I felt pretty confident that we would have our opportunities in both matches,” Tyler said. “Evansville played a great match and was able to shut down most of our chances.”

Against Evansville, sophomore Malini Wijesinghe played up in the No. 3 singles position for the first time in her career.  Wijesinghe was able to come through with a 7-6, 6-1 victory, but that proved to be Bradley’s lone point in a 6-1 loss to the Purple Aces.

According to Tyler, shuffling the lineup can be a difficult task, but he believes his players can perform well no matter where he slots them in the match.

“Lineups are kind of a weird thing because essentially, what you’re saying is your number one player is your best player and your number six is your lowest player,” Tyler said. “I don’t know that’s always the case because I think, on any given day, any of our girls can beat each other. It’s tough to shuffle the lineup, but I have confidence in our ladies to play any position that they’re put into.”

The Braves were able to play a much tighter match against Southern Illinois, but were still unable to get the win as they fell 4-3.

Senior Ariel Dechter will play the final home match of her career tomorrow.
photo by Justin Limoges

Juniors Aimee Manfredo and Alexa Brandt both picked up victories at No. 5 and No. 3 singles respectively. Senior Ashley Thai was also able to get her first singles win of the spring in the No. 6 spot, after playing only doubles this Spring.

Thai said she believes the skills she has acquired from playing doubles helps her in singles play.

“I was definitely nervous because I hadn’t played a singles match since October,” Thai said. “I mainly focused on trusting myself and having confidence in my game knowing that I could go and get the job done when my team needed me. Honestly, my doubles skill really helps my game when it comes to singles because I am better able to stay in the point cross court and be more aggressive at the net to end points.”

The Braves will return to action by hosting their final two home matches of the season next weekend ‒ today versus Drake and tomorrow against Northern Iowa.  According to Tyler, De Lasa is set to make her return to the court today.

Tomorrow’s match versus the Panthers will also be the final home match for seniors Ariel Dechter and Thai, who will end their careers as the two winningest players in Bradley Tennis history.

“Going into this Saturday, there is such a mix of emotions,” Thai said. “When I was eight years old I wanted to become a Division I tennis player, and I did it. Playing for Bradley University under coach Tyler has been such an honor. So many great memories have accumulated over the years, and to think that Saturday is going to be the end of it all makes me really sad. I’m not ready for the good times to end.”

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