Bradley’s women’s tennis team picked up two consecutive Missouri Valley Conference losses this weekend. The Braves were defeated by Northern Iowa 4-3 on Friday and by Drake 7-0 Saturday on Senior Day.
Against Northern Iowa, the duo of sophomore Ashley Thai and freshman Alexa Brandt took the first doubles match. However, Northern Iowa won the next two matches to receive the doubles point.
In singles play, two-seed sophomore Ariel Dechter, five-seed sophomore Ashley Thai and six-seed senior Cassia Wojtalik all won their matches. It was the most points the Braves scored in a MVC match since 2008, but it wasn’t enough to earn the win, as UNI’s three singles points combined with doubles to take the match 4-3.
“We haven’t beat Northern Iowa in over 25 years,” head coach Matt Tyler said. “So to be right there and lose by only one point was heartbreaking. We played a great match but it just didn’t go our way. However, we gained a lot of experience from this and some confidence going forward.”
The results weren’t any better when Bradley took on Drake the next day, with the Bulldogs sweeping the Braves 7-0. Senior Irinka Toidze wasn’t able to play on Saturday, as she had been battling an injury all season, according to Tyler.. Her absence caused some shuffling of the seeds.
“We knew it would be an uphill battle going in, and taking Toidze out the lineup made it even more challenging,” Tyler said. “But I couldn’t have been more proud of how we fought against one of the conference’s best teams. The score was not reflective of the way we played. We competed all the way through.”
Bradley is now 9-9 overall this season. Tyler said that playing MVC teams will be a tough transition from their out-of-conference schedule.
“The Valley is a strong tennis conference,” Tyler said. “The teams we played this weekend have beaten some Big 10 and SEC teams, so I would put them up against any other teams in the country. The whole conference is solid top to bottom. We have to be focused and on point every single weekend.”
The Bradley women will hit the road next weekend for MVC matches against Missouri State on Saturday and Wichita State on Sunday.
