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4
Winner Missouri State MOST (6-8, 1-0 MVC)
3
Bradley BRAD (3-13, 0-2 MVC)
Winner
Missouri State MOST
(6-8, 1-0 MVC)
4
Final
3
Bradley BRAD
(3-13, 0-2 MVC)
Barbery and Maletin vs NIU

Missouri State Rallies for MVC Tennis Victory

Visiting Bears took three of the final four singles matches to finish, all in three sets

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Match Recap: Women's Tennis | | Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications
Missouri State 4, at Bradley 3

PEORIA, IL – In a tightly-contested match that saw the last four singles matches stretch to three sets, visiting Missouri State took those three of those extended matches to rally for a 4-3 Missouri Valley Conference women's tennis dual match victory against Bradley (3-13, 0-2 MVC) Saturday afternoon at the Clubs at River City South.
 
The Braves had to rally for the day's first point, by taking the final two doubles matches.  After Missouri State earned a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles, the pairing of Natalia Barbery and Sandra Maletin quickly followed with a 6-4 win at No. 1 to even the doubles play.  The deciding point at No. 2 went into a tie-breaker with the Braves duo of Alexa Brandt and Malini Wijesinghe taking the final two points to earn the deciding 7-6 (6) victory. 
 
With their victory, Brandt/Wijesinghe moved into a tie for third on Bradley's all-time list for doubles wins by a team, earning their 32nd victory together.  The 32 wins by the teammates are the most since Nicole Miller and Emily Regenold tied the school mark with their 42 wins from 2007-10.
 
Maletin pushed Bradley's lead to 2-0 by claiming the first singles point of the afternoon, a 6-4, 7-5 win in the No. 1 spot.  After Missouri State pulled even by taking the Nos. 5 and 2 singles matches, Wijesinghe put Bradley back in front, 3-2, by completing her comeback from a first-set loss for victory at No. 3 singles. 
 
Wijesinghe also moved into a tie for 10th place on Bradley's all-time combined wins list by picking up her 92nd career victory in singles (54) and doubles (38) action.
 
The Bears rallied for the win, however, as Fati Khamissi (No. 4 singles) and Abbey Belote (No. 6) both finished off their third-set victories within moments of one another.
 
Bradley returns to action next weekend with a pair of Valley matches Saturday at UNI and Sunday at Drake.
 
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Players Mentioned

Natalia Barbery

Natalia Barbery

Sophomore
Alexa Brandt

Alexa Brandt

6' 0"
Senior
Malini Wijesinghe

Malini Wijesinghe

5' 11"
Junior
Sandra Maletin

Sandra Maletin

Freshman

Players Mentioned

Natalia Barbery

Natalia Barbery

Sophomore
Alexa Brandt

Alexa Brandt

6' 0"
Senior
Malini Wijesinghe

Malini Wijesinghe

5' 11"
Junior
Sandra Maletin

Sandra Maletin

Freshman