Nov. 6, 2002
Entering uncharted waters for the Illinois program, senior Michelle Webb and Jennifer McGaffigan become the Illini's first ever representatives at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) Omni Hotels National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. The tournament will be held in Farmer's Branch, Texas, just outside of Dallas.
The 32-draw singles and 16-draw doubles tournaments feature qualifiers from the ITA regional championships held across the country last month, as well as the winners of the ITA All-American Championships and at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA National Tournament Committee.
The Illini duo's road to the title will be a difficult one. To open play, McGaffigan and Webb will square off against top-seeded and second-ranked Tiffany Brymer and Jewel Peterson. That match is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. CST with quarterfinal and consolation matches to follow later in the evening.
Webb and McGaffigan bring an impressive 9-1 record into this weekends competition, which they qualified for by winning the ITA Midwest Regional doubles championship two weeks ago.
"This is a great step for our program," Head Coach Sujay Lama. said "The competition here will be very tough, but we won't get caught up in who we play. We will go out and compete and not just be happy to be here."
"Jenny and Michelle compliment each other and work well as a team," Lama said. "Michelle has a big serve and is an aggressive volleyer, while Jenny is an incredible returner. Both are smart players who will take calculated risks at the net. These two work extremely hard, have prepared great and will fight every match until the end."
With Lama accompanying Webb and McGaffigan, Assistant Coach JoAnne Russell and the rest of the Illini will be hosting the Midwest Blast Nov. 8-10 at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana. Joining the Illini will be contingents from Georgia Tech, Illinois State and Big Ten rival, Minnesota.
The tournament will have a singles field of 32 along with 16 doubles teams, as well as a consolation bracket. Ranked singles players competing are Georgia Tech's Jaime Wong (38th) and Catherine Gunn, (46th), Minnesota's Valerie Vladea (80th) and Illinois State's Liina Suuvarik (94th). The ranked doubles teams are the Redbirds' Suuvarik and Alesia Mikalayeva (19th) and the Gophers' Vladea and Michaela Havlekova (29th).
The Illini will send six players into singles action, led by senior Eldina Fazlic and junior Tiffany Eklov. Doubles teams include Fazlic and freshman Brianna Knue, junior Eva Choe and sophomore Leila Cehajic and Eklov and freshman Jessica Barki. Barki has been hampered by a bad back and hasn't practiced much this week, but is expected to compete.
"Eldina has had a great fall so far, probably her best," Russell said. "She has played number one before and won't be afraid of anyone out there this weekend. I am very happy for Jenny and Michelle, but I am also happy for Tiffany and Eldina because they will have opportunities galore to beat ranked players."
"Our number one goal for the tournament is to have everyone win their first round matches and go from there," Russell said. "That is the hardest thing to do because everyone will be fighting their nerves and their opponents."
Updates for both tournaments can be found at www.fightingillini.com. Complete results from the National Indoors can be found at www.itatennis.com.
