Oct. 25, 2008
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Illinois women's tennis team continued play at the 2008 Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional hosted by Michigan State University on Saturday. The third day of the tournament featured the first and second rounds of the singles draw and the third round of doubles play.
In all, three out of five Illini advanced past the first round of the singles main draw. In the second round, freshman Chelcie Abajian continued her run at the regional championships, improving her tournament record to 5-0, with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Miami's Anastasia Dracheva to advance to the next round. Abajian will face Michigan's Tania Mahtani in the third round.
"Chelcie is keeping things alive for the Illini as she continues to get better each and every match," Illinois head coach Michelle Dasso said.
In other Illini second round matches, sophomore Marisa Lambropoulos, facing the No. 4 seed Kristy Frilling of Notre Dame, gave it her all, but fell short in the tough matchup, 6-3, 6-0. After cruising through her first round match, senior Shivani Davé saw her run at the Midwest Regional come to an end, falling to DePaul's Dunja Antunovic, 6-2, 6-4.
"Marisa, playing some of her best tennis of the fall, fell short in an extremely tough second round match," Dasso added. "Shivani played solid tennis rolling through her first match before being halted by a talented DePaul lefty."
After losing their first round singles main draw matches, junior Megan Fudge and sophomore Leigh Finnegan rebounded quickly with each Illini notching a win in the singles consolation bracket.
"Fudge and Finnegan despite losing their first round matches showed character bouncing back to victories in their consolation matches," Dasso said. "Overall, we need to do a better job of dealing with our nerves if we want to get to the next level."
In the third round of the doubles main draw, the Illini duo of Fudge and Finnegan dropped a hard fought battle to DePaul's Selma Salkovic and Gia McKnight, 8-6.
The 2008 Wilson / ITA Midwest Regional Championships continues tomorrow, Oct. 26 with the third round of singles followed by doubles play. Fans can visit msuspartans.com for results and score updates throughout the tournament, while a full recap of each day's action for the Illini can be found at fightingillini.com.
2008 Wilson / ITA Midwest Regional Championship Results
MSU Indoor Tennis Facility
East Lansing, Mich.
Day Three - 10/25
Singles Main Draw - Round 1
Chelcie Abajian (ILL) def. Manon Noe (MSU) 6-2, 6-4
Anastasia Dracheva (Miami) def. Megan Fudge (ILL) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) def. Sandra Zmak (DEP) 7-6 (5), 6-0
Elizabeth Carpenter (WIS) def. Leigh Finnegan 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
Shivani Davé (ILL) def. Ekatarina Mirnova (WIS) 6-4, 6-3
Singles Main Draw - Round 2
Chelcie Abajian (ILL) def. Anastasia Dracheva (Miami) 7-5, 6-3
Kristy Frilling (ND) def. Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) 6-3, 6-0
Dunja Antunovic (DEP) def. Shivani Davé (ILL) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles Main Draw - Round 3
Selma Salkovic / Gia McKnight (DEP) def. Megan Fudge / Leigh Finnegan (ILL) 8-6
Singles Consolation Draw
Megan Fudge (ILL) def. Sandra Zmak (DEP) 6-3, 6-2
Leigh Finnegan (ILL) def. Christina Keesey (OSU) 6-0, 6-2
