Tennis Hits The Road for Weekend Matches

Bradley Tennis will look to extend the best start in program history when the Braves visit Murray State and Southeast Missouri State

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Women's Tennis 2/28/2019 6:20:00 PM

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Friday, March 1 at Murray State, 12:00 p.m. (Hardin, KY/Kenlake Tennis Center)
Saturday, March 2 at SE Missouri State, 8:30 a.m. (Paducah, KY/Paul Rowton Indoor Tennis Center)

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Saturday, Feb. 23 vs. WESTERN ILLINOIS, W, 4-0
Sunday, Feb. 24 vs. CHICAGO STATE, W, 6-1

MVC SINGLES PLAYER-OF-THE-WEEK
Sandra Maletin, Bradley, So., Belgrade, Serbia
With her playing status for the weekend in question due to a mid-week bout with the flu, Maletin continued her stellar play at the top of the Bradley lineup, sweeping her two matches at No. 1 Singles in straight sets … Maletin dominated her Saturday match, breezing to a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Western Illinois' Ana Bjelica to give the Braves a 3-0 advantage in their 4-0 victory against the Leathernecks … In Sunday's match against Chicago State, Maletin clinched the team victory with her 7-5, 6-2 triumph at No. 1 Singles … With her two wins, Maletin now stands at 16-3 in singles action this year, including 8-1 at No. 1 Singles during the dual match portion of the year … Her eight wins at No. 1 Singles already is tied for the sixth-best single-season total at the position in Bradley Women's Tennis history.

MVC DOUBLES TEAM-OF-THE-WEEK NOMINEE
Bozana Lojpur/Malini Wijesinghe, Bradley
Bradley's No. 2 Doubles duo helped get the Braves off on the right foot in each of the two weekend wins versus Western Illinois and Chicago State … The duo rolled to a 6-1 against Western Illinois to clinch the doubles point for the Braves, then battled for a 6-4 win against the Chicago State tandem of Borodina/Drazic, setting the stage for another team doubles victory Sunday … The Lojpur/Wijesinghe tandem improved to 13-6 on the year, including 7-2 in the No. 2 position during the dual match season, cracking the school's single-season top 10 for doubles wins by a team and moving up to seventh for wins at the No. 2 position.

BEST 10-MATCH START IN PROGRAM HISTORY
By sweeping its weekend matches versus Western Illinois and Chicago State, Bradley improved to 8-2 on the year … The 8-2 record is the team's best through 10 matches against NCAA Division I competition in the program's 42-year history … The 2019 start comes on the heels of last year's 5-15 overall record and the 3-win improvement already is the team's best year-to-year jump since following a 4-17 campaign in 2014 with an 11-13 record in 2015 (+8) … The Braves still have at least 13 matches remaining in 2019 … Since transitioning the dual match season to the spring semester in the mid '80s, Bradley had never before won as many as eight matches before the end of February.

WIJESINGHE SECOND-WINNINGEST IN PROGRAM HISTORY
Senior Malini Wijesinghe (Apple Valley, MN/Apple Valley H.S.) combined for a 3-0 singles and doubles record during Bradley's weekend sweep of Western Illinois and Chicago State … Her three victories pushed her career total to 122 combined singles (69) and doubles (53) victories and moved her into sole possession of second place on the program's all-time wins list … Wijesinghe's 69 singles wins rank third in program history, behind Ari Dechter (82) and Teri Chan (73), while her 53 doubles wins are tied for sixth-most in program history.

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