Sept. 28, 2001
The Fighting Illini women's team won four of its six singles contests and half of its four doubles matchups on Day 1 of the fall season. The Orange and Blue started the 2001-02 campaign in the ninth annual Hurricane Invitational, a three-day, six-team affair on a beautiful 75-degree day at the University of Tulsa campus. The Illini, for the most part, faced players from Southwest Missouri State today in the non-bracketed tournament.
"Our players competed hard," said Head Coach Sujay Lama. "It's fun to get back into competition, and it was good to see them improve as the day went on."
UI sophomore Jennifer McGaffigan, ranked No. 70 in the nation, was impressive in her 6-1, 6-2 victory over Ia Zozrashvili. Freshman Kate Boomershine opened her college career on a high note with her 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Cassandra Godfrey. Sophomore Eva Choe also picked up a first-round win, a 6-3, 6-1 decision over Marta Rubina.
In other first-round action, sophomore Tiffany Eklov fell to Oyuki Cruz, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, and freshman Leila Cehajic dropped her first collegiate match to Laura Alvarez, 6-4, 6-1. But Cehajic, the only Illinois player to have a second singles match, came back with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Caroline Blechschmidt of New Mexico State.
Lama did some mixing and matching with his doubles lineups right off the bat, as expected. The Illini lost both their doubles matches to Southwest Missouri State teams, with McGaffigan and Boomershine falling, 8-5, to Zozrashvili and Godfrey, and Cehajic and Eklov dropping their contest with Rubina and Alvarez by the same score.
Choe and Boomershine later teamed up to defeat New Mexico State's Elke Blodau and an unnamed partner, 9-8, while Eklov and McGaffigan combined to beat Harriet Piercy and Lejla Porobic of NMSU, 8-2.
"We split our doubles matches, but I was pleased with how we played, because we really have not worked much on doubles yet," said Lama. "But just as in singles, we looked better the longer we were out there."
The Fighting Illini continue in the tournament on Saturday and Sunday, during which time they will face players from the other three competing schools: Kansas, Arkansas and host Tulsa.
