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After mixed weekend, women's tennis on break until January

October 23, 2014

After falling in the main draw at the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament last weekend, the women’s tennis team went back to East Lansing.

Sophomore Erin Faulkner and freshman Aslina Chua were placed in the main draw originally. Junior Emily Meyers, sophomore Athena Truilloit, senior Catherine Parenteau and freshman Lexi Baylis needed to win three matches in qualifying rounds to make it to the main draw.

“We played well — singles, doubles, everyone has performed well. We had a lot of close matches with teams that went very deep into the tournament, or won the tournament,” associate head coach Tyler Fualkner said. “I think, for us, it was a good test to see where we were at, relative to the rest of our opponents.”

Meyers took the first Spartan singles victory over Kelsey Gambreau of Wisconsin 7-6 (2), 6-2, and then lost to Alexa Brandt of Bradley in a close match of 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (5).

Trouillot fell to Madie Ballion of Illionis in the second round of qualifiers 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, after bye passing through round one.

Parenteau lost to Illinois’s Jerrika Boone, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.

“I had some high expectations and it didn’t happen very well so I was pretty disappointed by some of my own goals, but as a team we did pretty well,” Parenteau said. “We competed great — we didn’t compete against good teams in fall so it was our first tournament playing against really good teams.

Baylis celebrated her birthday with two victories: Cleveland State's Mathilde Orange, 6-4, 6-0, and Kadi Ilves of Illinois State, 6-1, 6-2. During the second day of competition, Baylis defeated Eastern Michigan’s Ani Gogvadze, 6-3, 6-0, to make it into the main draw.

“It was really excited to even qualify. I was just playing one match at a time, one point at a time,” Baylis said. “It was surprising to me that I ended up going as far as I did.”

The team of Erin Faulkner and Athena Trouillot had a bye first round, followed by their win over Kadi Ilves and Chanel Scudiero of Illinois State, 8-4.

After defeating Alexa Brandt and Ashley Thai of Bradley, 8-4, pair Parenteau and Chua lost to Emina Bektas and Alex Najaran of Michigan 8-2.

“We always have a good chemistry and I think it helps in our performance,” Parenteau.

Meyers and Baylis lost to Illinois’s Grace Tapak and Madie Baillon, 8-4.

As the team entered the main draw, Baylis defeated Ana Pimienta of Marquette 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, then was defeated by Emina Bektas of Michigan 6-1, 6-2.

DePaul’s Rebecca Mitrea defeated Erin Faulkner, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. Chua lost to Notre Dame’s Mary Closs 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

In main draw doubles, pair Faulkner and Trouillot lost to Notre Dame’s Gleason and Robinson 8-6. This wrapped up Regionals, and the fall season, for the Spartans.

Competition will begin again on Jan. 18, when MSU hosts Oakland and Eastern Michigan to kick off their spring season.

“Consistency is something to work on but I think just fighting hard for every point is something we can always work on,” Baylis said.

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