April 24, 2015 Results
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EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Missouri State's season came to an end as the seventh-seeded Bears fell to the second-seeded Drake Bulldogs in the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Tennis Team Championship Quarterfinals, 4-0, at Wesselman Park Friday, April 24.
Facing the Bulldogs (21-5) less than a week after dropping a match to Drake in Des Moines, the Bears (4-17) led in one singles and doubles match before they were left unfinished in a closer dual the second time around.
"Drake is a very good team and we knew that going in," Bears head coach Mallory Weber said. "The progress from last week to this week is noticeable. The girls fought hard and just fell short against a very talented team."
The Bulldogs opened the dual with an 8-0 victory at No. 3 doubles. MSU's Ekaterina Donetskova and Anelisse Torrico Moreno battled the Bulldogs' Summer Brills and Nell Boyd at the No. 2 position and were down just 6-3, but couldn't overcome the deficit in an 8-3 loss.
The Bears' No. 1 doubles team of Miranda Poile and Ema Turudija were on pace for their second-straight win together, but their 4-3 lead over Drake's Mariel Ante and Adrienne Jensen was wiped out with the doubles point clinched.
Turudija highlighted MSU's performance in singles. The junior took her first set 7-5 at No. 1 singles over Ante before her match was left unfinished.
The dual's first sets across Nos. 2-4 singles were close throughout, with each resulting in 6-4 victories for the Bulldogs.
Donetskova, Torrico Moreno and Poile all dropped just one service game for the Bears in 2-4 singles, respectively, in their first sets.
Drake's Boyd led Torrico Moreno 4-1 and Jensen was up 1-0 over Poile in their respective matches in the second set, while Brills topped Donetskova in their second set to clinch the dual.
Jordan Eggleston of Drake defeated MSU's Abbey Belote in straight sets at No. 5 singles and Lea Kozulic beat Rebecca McIsaac 6-1, 6-0 at the No. 6 slot.
"This whole year we've been talking about how it's positive that we've been getting better," Weber said. "The first year is over now and all these girls are going into year two with experience under their belt, and now they'll need to step up and we've got to see improvement. I think it's important. They were pretty frustrated after the match and clearly disappointed, so it's good motivation going into the offseason to continue to get better and not keep feeling like this."
The Bears conclude the spring season with a 4-17 overall record. MSU is set to return all nine players on the roster this season which featured two juniors, two sophomores, and five freshmen.
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