April 20, 2002

The Illinois women's tennis team fell short this afternoon in its bid for a fourth consecutive victory and for assurance of a winning conference record. The Fighting Illini fell at Ohio State's Stickney Tennis Center, and saw their record drop to 10-11 overall and 5-4 in the Big Ten.

The 35th-ranked Buckeyes jumped out on top with the doubles point, taking two of the three doubles matches. The Illini won the No. 3 match, 9-7, as Tiffany Eklov and Eldina Fazlic outlasted the Bucks' Michelle Matko and Lindsay Williams. Jennifer McGaffigan and Eva Choe were edged, 8-6, in the No. 2 match by OSU's Erica Fisk and Sadhaf Pervez. At No. 1, the 49th-ranked duo of Monica Rincon and Meaghan Colville dropped Illinois' Cynthya Goulet and Michelle Webb, 8-2.

Eldina Fazlic tied the match at 1-1 with her 6-2, 6-4 victory over Matko at No. 4 singles. But Ohio State took a lead it would never relinquish when Williams took Goulet in straight sets at No. 5. Pervez and Rincon followed suit, defeating Illinois' Choe and McGaffigan, respectively. Fisk needed a match tiebreaker at No. 2 to nip Eklov. The Illini scored the last point of the day, with Webb's 7-5, 6-7, 10-8 victory over Castro providing the final margin.

The Illini wind up regular season play at Penn State tomorrow. A victory over the eighth-place Nittany Lions would give the Orange and Blue a winning Big Ten record and a shot at a third-place finish. Illinois will then journey to Bloomington, Ind. for the Big Ten Championship Tournament, which gets underway Thursday and runs through next Sunday.

Today's Illinois Results: No. 35 Ohio State 5, No. 46 Illinois 2

Singles
1 No. 64 Monica Rincon (OSU) def. No. 56 Jennifer McGaffigan (ILL)   6-3, 6-2
2 No. 80 Erica Fisk (OSU) def. Tiffany Eklov (ILL)                   6-4, 4-6 (10-6)
3 Sadhaf Pervez (OSU) def. Eva Choe (ILL)                            6-2, 6-4
4 Eldina Fazlic (ILL) def. Michelle Matko (OSU)                      6-2, 6-4
5 Lindsay Williams (OSU) def. Cynthya Goulet (ILL)                   6-3, 6-4
6 Michelle Webb (ILL) def. Claudia Castro (OSU)                      7-5, 6-7, (10-8)

Doubles

1 No. 49 Monica Rincon/Meaghan Colville (OSU) def. Michelle Webb/Cynthya Goulet (ILL) 8-2

2 Erica Fisk/Sadhaf Pervez (OSU) def. Jennifer McGaffigan/Eva Choe (UI) 8-6

3 Tiffany Eklov/Eldina Fazlic (ILL) def. Michelle Matko/Lindsay Williams (OSU) 9-7