CHICAGO — Mary Houston's win at No. 3 singles highlighted the Bears outing against UIC, but the Missouri State women's tennis team (7-15, 2-6 MVC) came up short here Sunday morning, 6-1.

In doubles, UIC (12-9, 5-3 MVC) took all three matches. To begin play, the Flames' Agnes Gustafsson and Ana Jover defeated Alyson Piskulic and Diana Cabrera, 6-0, in flight one. Afterwards, UIC's Natalia Nikolopoulou and Paula Rodriguez Gregoris (No. 3) clinched the doubles point for the home team after downing Tiera Jarmond and Silva Avakian, 6-2, followed by the Flames' Tamara Malazonia and Cora-Lynn von Dungern (No. 2) besting Houston and Juliette Robinson, 6-3.

UIC secured the dual after victories in Nos. 2, 4 and 6 singles. The Flames' Nikolopoulou (No. 2) took down Jarmond, 6-1, 6-0, then UIC's Jover (No. 4) defeated Robinson, 6-1, 6-3. The deciding match came in flight six, as the Flames' Rodriguez bested Avakian, 6-4, 6-0.

Continuing in singles action, UIC's Agnes Gustafsson defeated Cabrera, 6-3, 6-4, in the No. 1 slot. Next, Houston earned MSU's lone victory in a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 winning performance over the Flames' Malazonia in the No. 3 position.

To conclude the match, UIC's von Dungern got past Piskulic in flight five, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (10-3), with a 10-point tiebreak being played in lieu of the third set.

The match concludes Missouri State's season, its first under head coach Ellie Burger, as only the top six teams in the MVC standings advance to next week's conference championship.

The Bears showed noticeable improvement from last season, winning seven more duals, including two in the MVC, and garnering two Valley weekly player of the week honors.

In the fall, MoState was headlined by Cabrera earning second in No. 1 singles at the MVC Individual Championships. Elsewhere, the duo of Avakian and Houston snagged fourth in No. 3 doubles, and Avakian grabbed fifth in No. 6 singles.

Results:
Doubles
1 – Agnes Gustafsson/Ana Jover (UIC) def. Diana Cabrera/Alyson Piskulic (MOST) 6-0
2 – Tamara Malazonia/Cora-Lynn von Dungern (UIC) def. Mary Houston/Juliette Robinson (MOST) 6-3
3 – Natalia Nikolopoulou/Paula Rodriguez Gregoris (UIC) def. Silva Avakian/Tiera Jarmond (MOST) 6-2
Order of finish – 1,3,2

Singles
1 – Agnes Gustafsson (UIC) def. Diana Cabrera (MOST) 6-3, 6-4
2 – Natalia Nikolopoulou (UIC) def. Tiera Jarmond (MOST) 6-1, 6-0
3 – Mary Houston (MOST) def. Tamara Malazonia (UIC) 7-6 (7-2), 6-2
4 – Ana Jover (UIC) def. Juliette Robinson (MOST) 6-1, 6-3
5 – Cora-Lynn von Dungern (UIC) def. Alyson Piskulic (MOST) 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (10-3)
6 – Paula Rodriguez Gregoris (UIC) def. Silva Avakian (MOST) 6-4, 6-0
Order of finish – 2,4,6,1,3,5