CHICAGO, Ill. ?
Bradley freshman Nicole Miller (Glendale Heights, Ill./Glenbard West H.S.) and junior Kim Braun (Racine, Wis./The Prairie School) posted straight set singles victories for the Bradley women's tennis team, but Chicago State took four of six singles matches to defeat the Braves, 4-3, Sunday afternoon in Chicago.
The singles victory for Miller improves her overall record to 8-7 and her spring dual record to 6-1. She defeated Ameena Payne at No. 5 singles, 6-0, 6-0. Braun's victory at No. 6 over Nia Randall, 6-0, 6-0 pushed her spring record over the .500 mark at 4-3. Miller and Braun have combined to go 10-4 at the No. 5 and 6 singles positions this spring.
The Cougars claimed victories at each of the top four singles positions, starting with a straight set victory for Dian Aayasari over BU sophomore Emily Regenold (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton H.S.) at No. 1, 7-5, 6-1. Chicago State's Golda Rubina defeated sophomore Jessica Buterbaugh (Paradise Valley, Ariz./Chaparral H.S.) at No. 2, 6-0, 6-0, while Eliza Rustandar also claimed a straight set victory, beating junior Kelly Donohue (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy) at No. 3, 6-1, 6-4. BU junior Erin Krubeck (Boulder, Colo./Fairview H.S.) won the first set against Peggy Moore at No. 4, 6-1, but Moore battled back to claim the victory with a 6-4 win in the second set, followed by a 10-7 victory in the third set tiebreaker.
For the fourth time in seven tries this spring, the Braves won the doubles point. Miller and Regenold defeated Moore and Rustandar, 8-5, at No. 2 doubles. The Bradley pairing now has a spring dual record of 6-1. Braun and Krubeck posted their fourth victory of the spring at No. 3 with an 8-5 win over Payne and Randall. Buterbaugh and Donohue lost at No. 1 to Aayasari and Rubina, 8-2.
The loss is the third in a row for the Braves and drops BU to 2-5 on the season. Bradley won't play again until a March 26 visit to Western Illinois. The match in Macomb, the third of seven consecutive road matches for BU, is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
