Oct. 21, 2003

The Illinois women's tennis team will begin a weekend of competition in the ITA Midwest Regional this Thursday in Kalamazoo, Mich. The event is being hosted by Western Michigan University, the same place the Illini opened their season last month at the Bronco Invitational.

Coach Sujay Lama's team has good memories from last year's regional. In 2002, Jennifer McGaffigan and Michelle Webb became the first Illinois doubles team to win the regional tournament and advance to the National Indoor competition. McGaffigan reached the quarterfinals of the singles main draw.

The Illini will have three players competing in the qualifying singles round Thursday: junior Leila Cehajic, sophomore Pavlina Akritas and freshman Emily Wang. The singles main draw will begin Saturday and will feature UI seniors McGaffigan and Tiffany Eklov, junior Cynthya Goulet, sophomore Brianna Knue and freshman Isabel Jarosz. The Orange and Blue will also have four teams in the doubles tournament that will begin Friday: McGaffigan and Goulet, Jarosz and Eklov, Knue and Wang, and Akritas and Cehajic.

Lama can't wait for the start of this week's competition. "For me it's the biggest event in the fall," he said. "We are really excited about the tournament and getting to see where our team is in relation to others in this region. We've always been one of the top teams in this area and we want to establish ourselves as that again this year. It has already been a good fall season for us. In each tournament we have done well, and the most important thing is that we have been improving with each one."

The tournament will begin this Thursday (Oct. 23) and conclude on Tuesday (Oct. 28). Illinois results will be posted on the internet at www.fightingillini.com, while complete results may be viewed at www.wmubroncos.com.