Oct. 7, 2003

Three players from the Illinois' women's tennis team opened play at the ITA All-American Tournament in Pacific Palisades, Calif., this afternoon. Jennifer McGaffigan and Cynthya Goulet opened play in the qualifying doubles round with an impressive win over fourth-seeded Majen Immink and Tammy Encina from Tennessee. Tiffany Eklov suffered a tough opening-round loss to Manon Kruse from Middle Tennessee State.

"The best thing is that Tiffany got in. No matter what bracket of this tournament you are in, there is not one weak player. The fact that she got in is just great," said assistant coach JoAnne Russell. "Also, Jennifer and Cynthya got in and were able to beat a highly-seeded team from Tennessee. Jennifer is coming off winning three tournaments in a row, and their play today was one of the best doubles matches I have seen. They really impressed me with how aggressive they were."

"I think that we got a really solid start today," said McGaffigan We played aggressive and tried to get to the net before they did."

McGaffigan and Goulet will continue doubles play tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. CDT against Maria Brito and Julie Coin from Clemson. McGaffigan will begin singles competition when the main draw commences on Thursday.

TUESDAY'S ILLINOIS RESULTS:

Singles:
Manon Kruse (MTSU) def. #57 Tiffany Eklov (ILL)      6-1, 6-4

Doubles: #31 Jennifer McGaffigan/Cynthya Goulet (ILL) def. Majen Immink and Tammy Encina (TENN) 8-3