March 22, 2006
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. - The 59th-ranked Fighting Illini women's tennis team (5-7) was put to the test against third-ranked USC (11-2) on Wednesday afternoon at the outdoor courts of Marks Stadium. The Trojans topped Illinois 6-1, but last week's Big Ten Player of the Week, sophomore Macall Harkins, shocked the Trojans seventh-ranked ace Amanda Fink at No. 1 singles with a 6-2, 7-6(5) win.
"Overall it was a good start for us in our first match outdoors against a solid team," head coach Sujay Lama said. "We battled and I thought we did a good job especially in singles. Our training was productive this week and the fact that we stayed with it when our back were to the wall was great and we certainly gained a lot of confidence from playing a really good team."
The Trojans took a 1-0 lead with the doubles point. Sophomores Momei Qu and Alejandra Meza Cuadra fell to Anca Anastasiu and Luanan Magni, 8-0, on the second court before the Trojans grabbed the advantage with a win from Dianne Matias and Carine Vermeulen who topped 37th-ranked junior Emily Wang and Harkins 8-2 to clinch the point.
The Crimson and Gold took a 5-0 advantage before Harkins upset Fink to put the Orange and Blue on the board.
The Illini have a quick turnaround before resuming the conference slate with a match against Penn State in State College on Friday at 5 p.m. On Sunday, Illinois will face No. 35 Indiana in Bloomington at 10 a.m.
"It's time for the `real season' when we get the conference season underway Friday night," Lama said. "Hopefully what we've done up to this point will pay off and good things will happen."
#3 USC 6, #59 Illinois 1
DOUBLES
(1) Matias/Vermeulen (USC) def. #37 Harkins/Wang (ILL) - 8-2
(2) Anastasiu/Magnani (USC) def. Qu/Cuadra (ILL) - 8-0
(3) DeVera/Fink (USC) def. Knue/Dave (ILL) - 8-5
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
SINGLES (1) Macall Hawkins (ILL) def. #7 Amanda Fink (USC) - 6-2, 7-6 (5)
(3) #49 Luana Magnani (USC) def. Momei Qu (ILL) - 6-3, 6-0
(2) #24 Dianne Matias (USC) def. Emily Wang (ILL) - 6-4, 6-0
(4) Anca Anastasiu (USC) def. Brianna Knue (ILL) - 6-1, 6-4
(5) Carine Vermeulen (USC) def. Shivani Dave (ILL) - 6-1, 6-2
(6) Judy DeVera (USC) def. Alejandra Meza Cuadra (ILL) - 6-4, 6-4
Order of finish: 5, 2, 3*, 4, 1, 6
