No. 31 Tennessee Slips Past Illinois

Sunday, January 28

Urbana, Ill.

12:00 PM

University of Illinois

Tennessee

Freshman Kristina Minor stormed back in her singles match, but fell short in the end at No. 5 singles.

January 28, 2007 | Women's Tennis

Jan. 28, 2007

Results

URBANA, Ill. - The Illinois women's tennis team lacked intensity and aggressiveness in its loss to No. 31 Tennessee, 7-0, today at the Atkins Tennis Center. Despite having multiple chances to take hold of their matches, the Illini fell short in doubles, while the singles performance came down to closing out leads, something the Illini will take with them as a lesson after this home opening weekend against some of the top teams in the country.

"I thought we came out without any energy or intensity in doubles, which hurt us as we entered singles already down a point," head coach Michelle Dasso said. "In singles, our girls did well to come back and be aggressive early. They were in their matches, and most of them had leads in the first or second sets, but were just not able to close them out. Overall, this team learned they have to be prepared to play every day they step on the court, because if we plan on competing with the best, we have to be mentally ready."

The Lady Volunteers looked sharp from the onset of the match, taking leads in all three doubles tilts. However, the Illini responded and had chances to break, but could not convert. At No. 1 doubles, freshman Megan Fudge and senior Emily Wang (ILL) fell to Connor Vogel and Ghizela Schutte (TENN), 8-4, in the No. 2 slot sophomores Bryce Marable and Shivani Davé (ILL) dropped their contest 8-3, while the No. 3 pair of Blakeley Griffith and Zsofia Zubor (TENN) took down Illinois' freshman Kristina Minor and junior Momei Qu, 8-3.

In singles, the Illini did better to contest every point in their matches, but closing out their opponents proved to be a challenge. At No 1 singles, Fudge was ripping winners during the first four points of the match, but a steady Griffith (ILL) got back into the contest to win 6-3, 6-1. At No. 2, Qu (ILL) fell behind early in her match against Schutte (TENN), and despite pushing to level the match in the second set, sprayed a couple of shots to give the decision to Schutte, 6-1 6-4. In the No. 3 slot, Marable dominated her opponent in the first frame, but would lose speed at the hands of a determined Vogel, who captured the final two sets to claim the victory 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

At the No. 4 singles spot, Shivani Davé fell just short of taking the first set, and eventually lost her momentum in the second to fall 7-5, 6-3 to Orlin. At No. 5 singles, perhaps the closest match of the day, Minor trailed for most of the match until blanking her opponent 6-0 in the second frame. After that, her Tennessee foe, Victoria Jones, stormed back from 4-1 down in the third to clinch the come-from-behind win, 6-3, 0-6, 6-4. Closing out the results, junior Alejandra Meza Cuadra (ILL) lost to Zubor  (TENN), 6-3, 6-3.

Illinois continues its home schedule when it hosts Illinois-Chicago at noon on Sunday, Feb. 4 at the Atkins Tennis Center.