March 5, 2005

The Illinois No. 2 doubles team of junior Brianna Knue and freshman Macall Harkins didn't play their best, but their victory proved to be the difference in Illinois' 4-3 Big Ten-opening victory over the Purdue Boilermakers at the Atkins Tennis Center this afternoon. The important thing was that the pair, ranked 58th by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), finished how they started---ahead.

Harkins and Knue led, 3-0, against Purdue's Stephanie Wooten and Brooke Beier before falling behind 5-3 and 7-6. Staving off elimination, the tandem (21-5) won the match, 9-8 (5) and set the tone for the 45th-ranked Illini's defeat of the 42nd-ranked Boilermakers.

"The win at No. 2 doubles was huge," Head Coach Sujay Lama said. "They didn't play great, but they came back from match point and found a way to win."

Harkins ended her No. 2 singles contest with Wooten in similar fashion. The Verdes Estates, Calif., native won her first set, 6-4, but dropped her second set, 3-6. A reversal of that score in the third set allowed her to pick up her 14th triumph of the season.

Victorious teammate Momei Qu took three sets to complete her match, but with the win, has won four straight matches at Atkins and five out of seven matches on the whole.

"It was great to see two freshmen so high in the lineup step up for us. Momei and Macall were certainly instrumental in our victory," Lama said.

Illinois' victory made amends for a 4-3 loss suffered last year in West Lafayette and marked the first decisions of the Big Ten season for both teams.

"This was a hard-fought match. We really needed to get off to a good start in the Big Ten. We knew it was going to be a close one," Lama said. "I'm hoping a win like this will bolster our team's confidence. Purdue's a good team; they should finish among the top four in the conference."

From here, Illinois (7-5, 1-0) is able to rest before heading to the Georgia Tech Invitational (March 19-22) just before spring break. Conversely, Purdue plays three matches during that span.

SATURDAY'S RESULTS:

#45 Illinois 4, #42 Purdue 3

DOUBLES: 
1  Cynthya Goulet/Emily Wang (ILL) def. Lara Burgarello/Alyssa Rodriguez (PUR)   8-1
2  #58 Macall Harkins/Brianna Knue (ILL) def. Stephanie Wooten/Brooke Beier (PUR)  9-8 (5)
3  Hala Sufi/Amy Walgenbach (PUR) def.  Anastasia Sokolova/Momei Qu (ILL) 8-4

SINGLES: 1 #36 Cynthya Goulet (ILL) def. #76 Hala Sufi(PUR) 6-2, 6-4 2 Macall Harkins (ILL) def. Stephanie Wooten (PUR) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 3 Momei Qu (ILL) def. Alyssa Rodriguez (PUR) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 4 Brooke Beier (PUR) def. Brianna Knue (ILL) 6-4, 6-3 5 Amy Walgenbach (PUR) def. Emily Wang (ILL) 6-4, 6-0 6 Lara Burgarello(PUR) def. Pavlina Akritas(ILL) 6-1, 2-6, 7-5