March 16, 2003
Illinois' 25th-ranked women's tennis team won four of six singles matches in a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over host Baylor, in Waco, Texas. The victory was the Illini's sixth in a row overall and fifth straight win on the road. With the win, the Illini improve to 9-3 on the season. Baylor fell to 6-7 overall.
Playing outside for the first time this year, the Illini had to deal with hot and windy weather conditions along with a strong Baylor team.
Tied at one match apiece, the doubles point came down to an incredible match at No. 3. Trailing 4-1, the Illini's Tiffany Eklov and Brianna Knue battled back and had two match points, but couldn't convert. The match was won by Baylor, 9-8(3) in a tiebreaker.
"Losing the doubles point wasn't demoralizing," Michelle Webb said. "Because Tiffany and Brianna really went after it in their match. Going into singles, we told ourselves, that we have six points left and we knew we had six players who can play, so being down wasn't a big deal."
In singles, the Bears pushed their lead to 3-0 with wins at Nos. 2 and 4, but they couldn't prevent the Illini from mounting a comeback.
Junior Jennifer McGaffigan, ranked 60th nationally, tallied Illinois' first point, winning 6-2, 7-5 at No. 1.
At No. 3, UI senior Eldina Fazlic dropped the first set, 6-4, but won the second 6-3. In the decisive third set, Fazlic fell behind, 3-1, 40-15, but rallied to win the final five games, and the set, 6-3.
"I've been in situations this year where I've been down before," Fazlic said. "Today I was able to hang in every point, but she was tired. Once I tied it at 3, I think she gave up mentally."
Webb won her match, 7-6(5), 6-2 at No. 6 to set up the dramatic finish at No. 5.
At. No. 5, Knue lost the first set 6-2, but stormed back to win the second 6-3 and the third, 6-1.
"Michelle, Brianna and Eldina picked up huge wins," Head Coach Sujay Lama said. "Eldina and Brianna could have easily hung it up when they were down, but they didn't. They were fantastic."
"When I got down, I was frustrated, thinking 'here we go again'" Knue said. "But Sujay reminded me to focus on one point at a time. I stayed patient and made her work because I knew I was in better shape than she was. The turning point was when I started to stay within my game, because when I force things, I lose."
"We have an amazing group of ladies," Lama said. "They're warriors. They could have folded when things weren't going our way, but they hung in there and fought. We believed in ourselves and didn't quit."
Lama continued, "This is a huge win for us. It will build character. When we're in a situation like this again, we can look back and see that we've done it before and be confident we will do it again."
Illinois has two weeks off before returning to Big Ten play with trips to Northwestern and Wisconsin, March 29th and 30th.
Today's Illinois Results:
#25 Illinois 4, #42 Baylor 3
Doubles
1. #19 Jenny McGaffigan/Michelle Webb, ILL def. Alison Bradley/Daria Potapova, BU 8-4 2. Anna Moncolova/Vida Mulec, BU def. Eva Choe/Eldina Fazlic, ILL 8-2 3. Stephanie Balzert/Izabela Mijic, BU def. Tiffany Eklov/Brianna Knue, ILL 9-8 (3)
Singles
1. #60 Jenny McGaffigan, ILL def. Anna Moncolova, BU 6-2, 7-5 2. #107 Vida Mulec, BU def. #91 Tiffany Eklov, ILL 6-3, 6-2 3. Eldina Fazlic, ILL def. Stephanie Balzert , BU 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 4. Daria Potapova, BU def. Eva Choe, ILL 6-4, 6-2 5. Brianna Knue, ILL def. Izabela Mijic, BU 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 6. Michelle Webb, ILL def. Barbora Blahutiakova, BU 7-6(5), 6-2