{"id":934571,"date":"2026-10-20T05:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T05:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/934571\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T05:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T05:20:09","slug":"womens-tennis-record-22-wins-secures-flight-victory-at-marquette-invitational-northern-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/934571\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Tennis record 22 wins, secures flight victory at Marquette Invitational \u2013 Northern Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

NIU women\u2019s tennis finished the Marquette Invitational with a singles title and two runner-up finishes during the three-day tournament hosted by Marquette University in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

The Huskies earned 22 wins from Friday to Saturday. Freshman Paulina Masherava<\/a> won Flight 5, while sophomore Rebeca Garcia Miralles<\/a> and freshman Iben Storkaas<\/a> finished runner-up Flight 1 and 2, individually.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of tight matches, and we had some players that we sat out for the weekend,\u201d head coach Eric Burns<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

Burns said some players competed in higher flights than usual but remained competitive throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, as a team, we looked very good,\u201c Burns said.<\/p>\n

Junior Lucia Yecora<\/a> also reached a career milestone, becoming the 20th player in the program\u2019s history to join NIU\u2019s 100-win club. Yecora finished the weekend with 102 combined career wins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cReally good in singles, really good in doubles,\u201d Burns said. \u201cShe\u2019s just consistent\u201d.<\/p>\n

FRIDAY<\/p>\n

The Huskies opened singles competition Friday at the Marquette Invitational.<\/p>\n

Garcia Miralles defeated University of Nebraska at Omaha Khayli Buckels 6-3, 6-7 (4), 10-4. Masherva overcame an opening-set loss to beat Marquette Aiyana Abbott 4-6, 7-5, 10-6.<\/p>\n

Storkaas and sophomore Malika Kabdesh<\/a> earned straight-set victories. Storkaas defeated University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee junior Nikola Nikolajeva 6-2, 6-4, while Kabdesh beat Western Illinois University fifth-year Emma Dell 6-1, 6-3.<\/p>\n

Freshman Natalia Varela Herrera<\/a> fell to Omaha Katelynn Kock 6-3, 6-3. Sophomore Sophia Shlyakhta<\/a> lost to Western Illinois\u2019 Chole Routier 7-6 (8), 6-3.<\/p>\n

In doubles, Yecora and Varela Herrera led NIU with two wins, defeating Omaha sophomore Grace Greenwald and sophomore Corinne Barber 6-4, before earning a second victory over Marquette senior Emmerson White and freshman Lizzie Stuckslager, 7-5.<\/p>\n

Shlyakhta and Garcia Miralles, along with Kabdesh and Masherava, each recovered from opening losses to win their second matches. Junior Theodora Kousiou<\/a> and Storkaas added a 7-5 victory over Milwaukee freshman Lexie Hankel and Nikolajeva.<\/p>\n

SATURDAY<\/p>\n

The Huskies strengthened their double performances Saturday, winning seven of eight matches.<\/p>\n

Kabdesh and Masherava won both matches, defeating Omaha Greenwald and Barber 6-4 before taking down Marquette Abbott and Kate Thorne 6-1.<\/p>\n

Yecora and Varela Herrera beat Milwaukee Nikolajeva and Rubio 7-5, completing a 3-0 invite together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Storkaas and Yecora fell 6-2 to Milwaukee Natalia Castenada and Valentina Vallova before recovering to defeat Omaha Spiers and Rhegness 6-2.<\/p>\n

Kousiou and Varela Herrera contributed a 7-5 victory over Marquette freshman Lea Holmlund and sophomore Maria Poon.<\/p>\n

SINGLES FINISHES<\/p>\n

Masherava followed her opening singles win with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Western Illinois junior Ananya Dhankhar. She completed her undefeated run by defeating Marquette Thorne 6-3, 6-2.<\/p>\n

Burns said Masherava had been improving each week and entered the tournament after an illness caused her to miss a couple of practices.<\/p>\n

Garcia Miralles overcame a 1-6 opening set-loss against Marquette White, taking the second set 6-2 and deciding tiebreak 10-8. Her run ended in the Flight 1 final, where Omaha\u2019s Kock won both sets 6-4.<\/p>\n

Burns credited Garcia Miralles\u2019 consistency and decision-making for her success while competing in a higher flight this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a smart player on the court\u201d, Burns said.<\/p>\n

Storkaas also rallied after losing the opening set, drafting Omaha Smith 3-6, 7-5, 10-7. She finished runner-up in Flight 2 after falling to Marquette Stuckslager 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the final.<\/p>\n

Kabdesh lost to Milwaukee Vallova 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) before earning 6-0, 3-6, 11-9 victory over Milwaukee Hankel. Shlyakhta earned a comeback victory over Omaha Greenwald, while Varela Herrera lost her other two matches in deciding tiebreaks.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT \u2014 The Huskies return home to host the NIU Huskie Indoor Invitational from Oct. 30 through Nov. 1 at the Nelson Tennis Center at Chick Evan Field House.<\/p>\n

Burns said the Huskies will focus on taking advantage of offensive opportunities, being more aggressive on the second-serve returns and finishing volleys more consistently.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re looking for a little bit more aggressiveness as far as stepping into the court, going for the shots,\u201d Burns said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NIU women\u2019s tennis finished the Marquette Invitational with a singles title and two runner-up finishes during the three-day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-934571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}