Nov. 6, 2004

Entering Saturday's second day of Midwest Blast tournament play at the UI Atkins Tennis Center, Illinois Head Coach Sujay Lama wanted his team to be more aggressive early.

He got his wish.

The Illinois women's tennis team won four of its five singles matches and two of its three doubles contests today, and Lama liked what he saw.

"(In) singles they were much more focused. The nerves were out. They were able to play their own game. But boy, were we aggressive. We were taking it to them. We were not reacting like we did yesterday--hoping for things to happen. Today we were the aggressors. We were there for the first strike," Lama said.

Illini freshman Macall Harkins picked up her second consecutive singles match with apparent ease against South Florida's Fabiana Taverna, a 6-2, 6-3 decision.

"It may look (easy), but it's good competition. I've had a few tough matches, especially in doubles. I play with Brianna Knue, and we make it interesting. We always seem to have close matches," Harkins said.

Harkins and Knue did make it interesting this morning, but won their match against South Alabama's Katarina Palenikova and Maria Zivcicova, 9-8 (6).

The duo's victory, along with a Cynthya Goulet/Emily Wang 8-2 win over the Jaguars' Klara Jarova and Andrea Kurekova, paved the way for Illinois's singles success, according to Lama.

"They just set the tone with the doubles today. Our No. 1 and 2 teams were just on fire. The last couple of weeks, we've really turned it up a notch in doubles. When you do that, it sets the tone, no doubt about that. Our players were not too thrilled that they lost four out of the six singles matches yesterday. They knew they were better than that, so today they wanted to set the tone right off the bat."

Freshman Momei Qu battled through a lengthy, hard-fought singles match for the second straight day, ultimately losing to South Florida's Liz Cruz, 6-3 3-6, 7-5.

"She's battling," said Lama. "You've got to give her credit for battling. She lacks a little bit of experience at this level. She's a freshman and she's playing at the three spot. There are a lot of good players (at that spot). She's just got to learn to capitalize. Both of the matches, she's had opportunities to finish up. She's got to learn to finish up the match."

Illinois faces South Florida tomorrow in doubles and Rice in singles matches. The Illini mentor hopes for a strong finish leading into the off-season.

"I want us to feel good about every single match we play tomorrow and set the tone. I want us to have a shot at every single match. We want to finish the fall so we can say to ourselves, `Hey, you know what? We had a great fall. We really came together toward the end. We are ready.'

"During the off-season we are going to work on all different things so by the time the dual-season comes, we are ready to go after it."

Saturday, November 6 results

10 a.m. -  Doubles: Illinois vs. South Alabama and Rice vs. South Florida
#44 Cynthya Goulet/Emily Wang (ILL) def. Klara Jarova/Andrea Kurekova (USA)	8-2
Brianna Knue/Macall Harkins (ILL) def. Katarina Palenikova/Maria Zivcicova (USA)	9-8 (6)
Dijana Stanic/Dominika Nemcovicova (USA) def. Momei Qu/Anastasia Sokolova (ILL)  	8-5

Blair DiSesa/Dominique Karas (Rice) def. Leila Cehajic (ILL)/Patricia Kolendo (USF) 8-2 Kimberly Patenaude/Tracie Chong (Rice) def. Gabriela Duch/Luisa Obando (USF) 8-4 Fabiana Taverna/Liz Cruz (USF) def. Amy Cao/Christine Dao (Rice) 8-3

Noon - Singles: South Alabama vs. Rice #58 Blair DiSesa (Rice) def. Andrea Kurekova (USA) 6-0, 6-2 Kimberly Patenaude (Rice) def. Ana Rupic (USA) 6-0, 0-6, 6-4 Katarina Palenikova (USA) def. Pavlina Akritas (ILL) 6-3, 6-3 Maria Zivcicova (USA) def. Christine Dao (Rice) 6-4, 6-3 Dominika Nemcovicova (USA) def. Dominique Karas (Rice) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 Amy Cao (Rice) def. Dijana Stanic (USA) 7-5, 6-2

4 p.m. - Singles: Illinois vs. South Florida #110 Cynthya Goulet (ILL) def. #97 Gabriela Duch (USF) 6-3, 6-1 Macall Harkins (ILL) def. Fabiana Taverna (USF) 6-2, 6-3 Liz Cruz (USF) def. Momei Qu (ILL) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 Emily Wang (ILL) def. Luisa Obando (USF) 6-1, 6-2 Brianna Knue (ILL) def. Patricia Kolendo (USF) 7-6, 6-3