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Today's Match was Historic, Tomorrow's is for Semis
WEST HAVEN, Conn. - DePaul's tennis dynamic duo of Anna Redecsi and Selma Salkovic continued on their magical run as the pair won their first match at the ITA National Indoor Championship at Yale University's Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center. Playing in a 16-team National Championship doubles bracket Redecsi and Salkovic faced a familiar SMU pair in Francis Pavi and Marta Lesniak. Earlier this season, the DePaul twosome topped Lesniak when she was paired Aleksandra Malyarchikova at the Rice Fall Tennis Classic. "We played the SMU player (Lesniak) earlier in the fall and won, so we were more optimistic and knew what to expect," Salkovic said after the match. Playing the first match of the morning both teams got off to a slow start as neither team served well, and made tentative shot choices in the first couple of games. DePaul took a 4-3 advantage, but dropped the next two games and relinquished its lead. "We got aggressive and started to make our shots," DePaul head coach Mark Ardizzone said. "We stressed that we would not be satisfied with just being here, but we wanted to win some matches." "There were lots of early breaks," Redecsi commented. "Once it was five all, we focused more and made some more shots and finished out the match," Redecsi added. Tied at five, the Blue Demon pair dug deep and got aggressive at the net. DePaul halted SMU's attacks and won the match 8-5. Redecsi and Salkovic move to the quarterfinals and play the top-seeded pair at the Indoor Championship in Tennessee's Natalie Pluskota and Caitlin Whoriskey. Friday's match is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. (CST) Pluskota and Whriskey won ITA/Rivera All-American Championship earlier this season and are 8-0 heading into Friday's match. "Tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun," Ardizzone said. "The team from Tennessee is probably the best in the country. They won the All-American and are the No. 1 seed at this tournament - What more can you ask for in a tennis match?" "We are going to come out and just go for it."
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