DEKALB, Ill. – South Dakota fifth-year seniors Jana Lazarevic and Habiba Aly teamed to win their doubles flight during the Northern Illinois Indoor Invitational that concluded on Sunday.
 
Lazarevic and Aly went 3-0 to win the Flight 1 doubles titles, beating a pair of teams from Air Force along with a duo from Northern Illinois during the five-team event.
 
This was the last of four weekends of play for the Coyote women during the fall season.
 
"Nice end to our fall schedule at NIU this weekend," coach Brett Barnett said. "We were a little off and tired on day one and didn't play our best and lost some close matches.
 
"I am so happy with how we responded on day two and the level and energy everyone brought on court."
 
Lazarevic and Aly opened the tournament with a 6-3 win over the Air Force team of Sydney Fitch and Isabella Flodin. They earned a 6-2 win in the semifinals against Northern Illinois' Diana Lukyanova and Reagan Welch.
 
The championship victory was 7-5 over the Air Force duo of Hailey Stelse and Alex Kuo as Lazarevic and Aly finished the fall season with a 7-5 record in doubles.
 
"We've played a high level of doubles all fall and played really good doubles this tournament and it showed going 3-1 against Air Force," Barnett said. "They are known for their doubles and play so aggressive and are tactically sound. 
 
"Jana and Habiba played at such a high level this tournament beating NIU and Air Force twice. They are dialed in with what they want to do on court and dictated play and forced their opponents to adjust to us. They are confident and know they can beat anyone."
 
The doubles duo of Berta Girbau and Sonia Skobkareva posted a 2-1 mark over the weekend, closing out the fall season with a 6-6 record.
 
Girbau and Skobkareva earned a 6-4 win in the quarterfinals over the duo of Gabriella Kaminski and Christy Robinson from Northern Illinois. They fell in the semifinals, 6-2, to Vivian Glozman and Karina Chao from the Air Force. However, the closed the tournament with a 7-6 win over the Air Force duo of Andrea Le and Alexis Odom where they fought off five-match points.
 
"Sonia and Berta showed so much grit and determination fighting off 5 match points and beating Air Force 7-6(6)," said Barnett.
 
Lazarevic came back after losing her opening singles match to post a pair of victories to close the weekend with a 2-1 record. Anna Marija Bukina and Bea Havlickova split a pair of singles matches during the event.
 
Lazarevic, after falling to Glozman in the quarterfinals, posted wins over Kristina Pukhaeva of Chicago State (6-2, 6-0) and Anastasiya Salenko of Lewis University (6-2, 6-3).
 
Bukina, a senior, defeated Iuliia Dmitrieva from Northern Illinois 12-10 in a third-set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals. She fell in the semifinals to Odom in straight sets.
 
Havlickova, a freshman, bounced back after a loss to Chao to defeat Chicago State's Susana Andres, 6-2, 6-1.
 
"Buki had a really nice win in singles over NIU and Jana played very well in all of her matches," added Barnett.
 
Bukina closed the fall season with a 6-3 singles mark while Havlickova went 5-5.
 
"This is probably the best fall we've had in four years, winning four doubles flights in our events and everyone having very good results," said Barnett. "This team knows what they can and want to accomplish this spring and we'll be ready when dual match season starts in January."