Sept. 24, 2000

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.---Junior Michelle Webb and sophomore Eldina Fazlic capped a strong weekend for the Illinois women's tennis team as they captured the doubles title Sunday at the New Mexico Fall Invitational in Albuquerque. The Illini duo defeated the host Lobos' Natalia Alekhova and Neza Kurnik, 8-2.

"This was the first time they had played together," said Illinois Coach Sujay Lama, "and what a wonderful result."

That was not the only positive result the Fighting Illini had in New Mexico. The Orange and Blue went 17-8 in singles matches and 8-3 in doubles competition during the three-day event, which also included Louisville and Southwest Missouri State.

In other Sunday action, UI freshman Jennifer McGaffigan fell to Alekhova in the championship match of the Flight A singles competition and Webb lost to Lindsey Marvel of New Mexico in the Flight B singles final.

"Considering this was our first tournament of the year and we had only two weeks to practice, this was a fantastic weekend for us," said Lama. "Of course we have lots of things to work on, based on our performance in this tournament. Hopefully in two weeks when we host the Midwest Blast, we'll play even better."