Feb. 18, 2006

URBANA, Ill. - Sophomore Macall Harkins and junior Emily Wang upset the 14th-ranked Ole Miss duo of senior Virginia Tomatis and junior Ilona Somers on Saturday at the Atkins Tennis Center but Illinois could not capitalize on its potential catalyst. Instead the Illini dropped two out of three doubles matches en route to a 4-3 loss.

"We are getting close and I thought the effort was incredible especially at No. 1 doubles," head coach Sujay Lama said. "That was as good of doubles that any one of our teams has played against a really good team."

Wang lost a 6-2, 6-1 outcome to Rebel sophomore Preethi Subramanian at No. 5 singles before Harkins countered with a 6-3, 6-4 court-one win over two-time All-SEC honoree Tomatis, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's 89th-ranked singles player.

"I'm really proud of (Harkins') presence on the court," Lama said. "She has a big game and I want her to carry herself big. She has a tendency to carry herself small. I also told her with her game, if she has a better presence on the court, everyone else can feed off of her."

Lama said that he noticed his sophomore's positive effect on sophomore Momei Qu who won 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 2 slot against Ole Miss sophomore Nika Koukhartchouk. In spite of freshman Shivani Davé's previous 6-4, 6-0 loss to first-year Rebel Ksenia Tokarieva, the Orange and Blue had an opportunity to come from behind, trailing only 3-2, with possible prevailing outcomes on courts three and six.

Senior Brianna Knue went down two games to five against 100th-ranked Somers, but evened it up at five games a piece before dropping the first set 7-5. Knue went down early in the second set and chipped back but it wasn't enough as she lost 6-3. Alejandra Meza Cuadra split her first two sets with Mimi Renaudin. The Illini sophomore went down 7-4 in the super tiebreaker but won six consecutive games to win the her match at number six singles.

"Bri always battles," Lama said. "The main thing with her match was that it was not a good match up. Style-wise it was not a good match up. Bri gave everything she had. It was a very physical match, but when she had her opportunities to close it out in the first set she didn't."

Wednesday the Illini open Big Ten play against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Saturday, February 18, 2006
Atkins Tennis Center, Urbana, Illinois

No. 35 Mississippi 4, No. 48 Illinois 3

Doubles:
1. Macall Harkins/Emily Wang (ILL) def. #14 Virginia Tomatis/Ilona Somers (MISS);9-8(4)
2. #47 Nika Koukhartchouk/Ksenia Tokarieva (MISS) def. Brianna Knue/Momei Qu (ILL ); 8-1
3. Preethi Subramanian/Mimi Renaudin (MISS) def. Alejandra Meza Cuadra/Shivani Davé (ILL); 8-5
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1

Singles:
1. Macall Harkins (ILL) def. No. 89 Virginia Tomatis (MISS); 6-3, 6-4
2. Momei Qu (ILL) def. Nika Koukhartchouk (MISS); 6-4, 6-3
3. #100 Ilona Somers (MISS) def. Brianna Knue (ILL); 7-5, 6-3
4. Ksenia Tokarieva (MISS) def. Shivani Davé (ILL); 6-4, 6-0
5. Preethi Subramanian (MISS) def. Emily Wang (ILL); 6-2, 6-1
6. Alejandra Meza Cuadra (ILL) def. Mimi Ranaudin (MISS) 7-6(5), 1-6, 1-0(7)
Order of Finish: 5, 1, 4, 2, 3, 6