CHICAGO – University of Chicago women's tennis played in their last two duals before ITA play this past weekend, taking on both Holy Cross College and Chicago State at home. The Maroons had no issue dealing with the Saints but their win against the Cougars was a surprisingly tense battle as the No. 2 team in the nation moved to 5-0.

RESULT
Holy Cross College – 0
No. 2 UChicago – 7

Chicago State – 1
No. 2 UChicago – 6

HOW IT HAPPENED

• vs. Holy Cross
  • The Maroons started off the weekend with the first of two home matches at XS Tennis by hosting Holy Cross College. UChicago had no issue dismissing their NAIA counterparts in doubles play and easily swept the three matches to earn the first point of the match.
    • Rena Lin/Oliwia Mikos defeat Carvalho-Landell/Martinez 6-3
    • Sylwia Mikos/Shianna Guo defeat Beer/Savvides 6-2
    • Lauren Khou/Nika Vesely defeat Lopez/Sanchez 6-2
  • The same course of action played out in singles play against the Saints. The Maroons took home victories in each of the six matches with a majority of the sets ending 6-0 or 6-1 on their way to a 7-0 blanking of HCC.
    • Sylwia Mikos defeats Sanchez 6-0, 7-6 [4]
    • Nika Vesely defeats Carvalho-Landell 6-1, 6-0
    • Oliwia Mikos defeats Martinez 6-2, 6-1
    • Rena Lina defeats Lopez 6-2, 6-0
    • Shianna Guo defeats Maillotte 6-0, 6-1
    • Brooke Pedersen defeats Beer 6-1, 6-0
• vs. Chicago State
  • Doubles play was not an indication of what was to come later in the contest against Chicago State. The Maroons easily took care of business against the Cougars on Sunday and earned the first point with three wins in pairs.
    • Rena Lin/Oliwia Mikos defeat Eloundou/Cooper 6-2
    • Sylwia Mikos/Shianna Guo defeat Li/Sedovich 6-4
    • Lauren Khou/Nika Vesely defeat Alvarez/Dukic 6-3
  • Singles was where things got very interesting. The Maroons came away with all but one match win but five of the games went into a third set tiebreak to drive up the tension. "Chicago State was one of the hardest fought, most intense matches I have ever been a part of, as the scores would indicate," said head coach Jay Tee. "The difference in the match came with the tone we set in doubles that was carried over into singles. It wasn't always pretty, but in the biggest moments we were our toughest and showed our greatest poise."
    • Sylwia Mikos defeats Eloundou 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
    • Nika Vesely defeats Dukic 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
    • Oliwia Mikos falls to Sedovich 7-7 (7-7), 6-6 (5-7)
    • Brianna Liu defeats Taibi 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2
    • Shianna Guo defeats Li 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
    • Brooke Pedersen defeats Cooper 4-6, 6-1, 6-3

WHO'S ON DECK
The Maroons will be back in action on Friday when they head to Lexington, Ky. to participate in the 2024 ITA Indoor Nationals. They'll start the three-day event with Sewanee at 2:00 pm eastern.

For up-to-the-minute University of Chicago Maroons news, visit www.athletics.uchicago.edu. You can also follow us on Twitter @uchicagoath and @uchicagoathletics on Instagram.