In the 50th tennis matchup between Bradley and Illinois State, the Braves fell 6-1 to the Redbirds in their Missouri Valley Conference road opener.
The Redbirds (10-5) downed the Braves (6-11) early on, as they earned the doubles point by sweeping all three matchups. Illinois State clinched the match victory with singles wins at Nos. 3, 4 and 5.
Bradley’s lone point came after a No. 6 singles win for junior Nikki Perlwitz. The Florida native’s 60th singles triumph made her one of seven other Braves in women’s tennis history to reach that plateau.
“In all my four years, I have never won my singles match against Illinois State; for my senior year, I really wanted to win this one,” Perlwitz said. “I felt that my past two weeks, I did not play my best tennis, so this weekend I wanted to come out feeling good about the way I play.”
After her match-winning point, Perlwitz did something that she doesn’t do often.
“[It was] a little uncharacteristic of me [but] I did yell, ‘Come on,’” Perlwitz said. “I don’t often yell much, compared to the others.”
After losing her first set 6-1, freshman Kirstin Hailey went on to win her second set at No. 2 singles 6-2. However, it just wasn’t quite enough for the point, as she lost the third set 6-3.
The task at hand was never going to be easy, as the Redbirds were considered MVC favorites at the start of the season.
“All of our matches were close, and it really came down to just a couple points here and there,” Bradley head coach Matt Tyler said. “I am certainly looking forward to hopefully playing them in the conference tournament [and] getting another shot at them.”
The Braves will stay at home for their next match against a struggling Missouri State (0-12) squad at Parkside Fitness in Pekin on April 2. The game will be broadcasted on The Valley on ESPN3, making it the fourth tennis match to be televised in Bradley history.
“I’m never comfortable against Valley opponents,” Tyler said. “Missouri State is someone who got the best of us last year, so we have to have a short-term memory and refocus and be ready to play those guys.”
Boasting a home record of 3-1, the Braves will try to snap their two-match losing streak and get back on track for conference play.
