Bradley University Athletics

Home Stand Continues vs WAC Champion

Bradley Tennis will continue its 4-match home stand Saturday by hosting defending WAC champion UMKC

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Women's Tennis 1/25/2019 8:06:00 AM

PEORIA, IL – Bradley Tennis will continue its season-opening, 4-match home stand with a stiff challenge Saturday when the Braves (1-0) host defending Western Athletic Conference champion UMKC in a noon dual at the Clubs at River City.

Despite playing short-handed due to illness and injury, Bradley came away with a 4-3 victory in its season-opener last weekend against Milwaukee. The Braves are expected to be closer to full strength Saturday, thanks to the return of junior Natalia Barbery, who was unable to travel back to Peoria from her native Bolivia last week due to the flu.

Bradley overcame Barbery's absence, as well as an injury to newcomer Nina Marjanovic that prevented the St. John's mid-year transfer from competing in singles action, by pulling out a pair of 3-set decisions to rally Sunday against the Panthers. Freshman Bozana Lojpur earned a 3-set decision at No. 2 Singles in her first career college dual match to pull the Braves into a 3-3 tie, while her doubles partner, senior Malini Wijesinghe, closed out the match with a 3-set win of her own at No. 3 Singles. Lojpur was honored as the Missouri Valley Conference Singles Player of the Week in recognition of her debut performance.

Saturday's match will be the first of the season for UMKC, which won the WAC Tournament title last year to earn the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Kangaroos own a 3-1 lead in the all-time series and have won three straight against Bradley, most-recently a 4-3 home victory Feb. 28, 2015.

Bradley's season-opening home stand will conclude Feb. 2 when the Braves host a doubleheader at the Clubs at River City – 9 a.m. against Omaha and 2 p.m. versus Eastern Illinois. Admission to all Bradley Tennis regular-season home matches is free.

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