April 20, 2007

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illinois women's tennis team will close out its Big Ten regular season this weekend as it travels to Iowa City, Iowa on Saturday, April 21 to face Iowa before heading to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota on Sunday, April 22, both matches starting at 11 a.m. (CDT). The Illini (5-14, 1-7) look to finish the year strong before entering into the Big Ten Tournament April 26-29, held hosted on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

"We are looking forward to a strong finish to the regular season with our final two Big Ten road trips this weekend," head coach Michelle Dasso said. "I was excited about how our younger players have stepped us the past couple of weeks, and will be looking for our upperclassmen to step it up this weekend to earn some victories."

A full recap of the Illini's matches this weekend can be found at www.fightingillini.com, following the conclusion of each match.

LAST TIME OUT
The Illinois women's tennis team dropped a pair of matches this weekend, both of them slipping through their fingers despite tough efforts from its freshman class. With a top performance from their freshman Megan Fudge, who teamed with Emily Wang to upset Indiana at the top slot in doubles and followed the effort with a victory at No. 1 singles, the Illini could not get the upper hand in the end to drop a close match at home on Saturday. Against the Buckeyes, Illinois mounted a spirited fight in their final home match of the season, but could not overcome No. 50 Ohio State on Sunday, dropping the contest 4-.

In doubles against Indiana, despite a gutsy performance from Wang and Fudge (ILL), who derailed a hot streak that Indiana's Alba Berdala and Laura McGaffigan had been putting together that included upsetting Northwestern's No. 13-ranked top doubles pair a week ago, the Illini fell a few points short of claiming the doubles point.

On the weekend, Fudge became the first Illini to reach the 20-win plateau with her weekend efforts, as she improved to 21-13 overall with her win at No. 1 singles against the Buckeyes, and is currently riding a two-match win streak heading into Illinois' final matches of the regular season next weekend. With the losses, Illinois dropped to 5-14 on the season, 1-7 in conference action.

KEEPING AN EYE ON THE HAWKEYES
In its last outing, the 55th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes fell to ninth-ranked Northwestern last Saturday, 5-2. In the doubles effort, Iowa's Merel Beelen and Hillary Mintz were the only Iowa duo to win a doubles match, defeating Alexis Prousis and Suzie Matzenauer, 8-3. In singles the Hawkeyes looked strong as Jacqueline Lee defeated 29th-ranked Samantha Murray (NU) in a tiebreaking set, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Mili Veselinovic also won her match, beating Prousis, 6-2, 6-1. Veselinovic has won 15 of her last 20 singles matches and leads the Iowa lineup.

Entering the match, Iowa leads Illinois 20-22 in the all-time series standing. In the teams most recent meeting last season, the Hawkeyes defeated Illinois, 5-2, at the Atkins Tennis Center.

THE DIRT ON THE GOPHERS
Coming off a strong 4-3 win over Wisconsin, No. 56 Minnesota is looking to keep that streak going this weekend at home. Ashley Schellhas (MINN), who leads a strong Gopher lineup, posted her second upset of the weekend of a top-30 singles, and did it on the road in Madison, Wis. Nationally unranked in singles, Schellhas upended 23rd-ranked Caitlin Burke (WIS) a day after downing 29th-ranked Samantha Murray of Northwestern in the Golden Gophers loss to the Wildcats. Against the Badgers, Minnesota went 1-2 in doubles play and 4-2 in singles action to earn its most conference wins in a season since capturing the 2003 Big Ten Regular Season Championship with a 9-1 record.

Illinois leads Minnesota in the all-time series standing, 20-1. In the teams most recent meeting during the 2006 season, the Golden Gophers earned their first victory of the series in a 5-2 defeat of Illinois at the Atkins Tennis Center.

NEXT UP
Illinois will head to Minneapolis to take part in the 2007 Big Ten Championships on the campus of the University of Minnesota on April 26-29. The Illini will be looking for a strong showing in its first postseason tournament under the leadership of first-year head coach Michelle Dasso.