Fighting Illini Top Redhawks, 5-2

Women's Tennis January 25, 2009

Fighting Illini Top Redhawks, 5-2

Jan. 25, 2009

Box Score

URBANA, Ill. - The No. 37 Illinois women's tennis team wrapped up its season opening weekend with a 5-2 victory over the Miami (OH) Redhawks, Sunday afternoon at the Atkins Tennis Center. Despite dropping the doubles point, the Orange and Blue netters responded in singles, taking five of six singles matches en route to their first victory of the dual match season.

"I was disappointed in doubles, but I want to highlight the play of our No. 3 doubles," head coach Michelle Dasso said. "Annie (McCarthy) coming up with huge first serves and Amy's (Allin) composure kept them in that match. In singles we battled at every position and we earned this victory out there today with the amount of fight we had on every court. Another positive that I saw from this weekend was the payoff of our conditioning since last season. We got to so many more balls then we did a year ago and that helped us win those matches today."

With the win, the Illini are now 1-1 on the young season, while the Redhawks fall to 2-3.

The Illini found themselves down 1-0 after dropping the doubles point. Illinois got an 8-6 victory from the No. 3 tandem of Amy Allin and Annie McCarthy. At No. 2 doubles Illinois' Chelcie Abajian and Marisa Lambropoulos fell to Miami University's Anastasia Drachova and Monica Gorny, 8-5. With the doubles matches at one-all, the crowd focused on the match at No. 1 doubles. The Illini duo of Megan Fudge and Leigh Finnegan looked to be in control, but the Miami duo of Megan Martzolf and Stephanie Danesis would not go away, forcing a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, it was all Miami as the duo took a 9-8 (2) win, capturing the doubles point.

In singles, freshman Amy Allin was the first to victory at No. 5 singles, with a solid straight sets win over Megan Martzolf (MU) 6-3, 7-6 (3). Allin is now 2-0 in dual matches this season.

"Amy has shown the composure of a veteran and has an unbelievable work ethic and attitude," Dasso added. "When you combine all of those things, its pretty fun to see how she's improved in the little time that she's been here. For it being her second dual match, the way she is handling herself out there, shows a lot of promise for the future."

Junior Megan Fudge and No. 89-ranked redshirt-sophomore Leigh Finnegan added to the Illini total with victories at No. 2 and No. 1 singles, respectively. Fudge and Finnegan are also off to a hot start on the year as both are 2-0 in duals for the season.

The Redhawks claimed their lone singles victory at No. 3 singles and with the Orange and Blue up 3-2, junior Kristina Minor won a decisive three-set thriller over MU's Riekie Honiball, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, to clinch the Illini's first victory of the season. With the match decided, sophomore Marisa Lambropoulos topped off the Redhawks with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles over MU's Britney Larson.

Illinois hits the road for a pair of matches in the inaugural ITA kick-off weekend hosted by Stanford. The Orange and Blue face No. 39 UNLV on Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. CT. The Illini will then face the winner/loser of the Stanford/Colorado match on Jan. 31. The 15 schools that win both of their matches at the ITA kick-off weekend sites will be invited to play in the Feb. 13-16 ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championships at the Univ. of Wisconsin.

Match Results
#37 Illinois 5, Miami (OH) 2
1/25/2009 Urbana, Ill.
Atkins Tennis Center

Doubles Competition
1) Megan Martzolf / Stephanie Danesis (MU) def. Leigh Finnegan / Megan Fudge (ILL) 9-8 (7-2)
2) Anastasia Drachova / Monica Gorny (MU) def. Marisa Lambropoulos / Chelcie Abajian (ILL) 8-5
3) Annie McCarthy / Amy Allin (ILL) def. Britney Larson / Riekie Honiball (MU) 8-6

Singles Competition
1) #89 Leigh Finnegan (ILL) def. Anastasia Drachova (MU) 7-5, 6-4
2) Megan Fudge (ILL) def. Monica Gorny (MU) 6-3, 6-3
3) Stephanie Danesis (MU) def. Chelcie Abajian (ILL) 6-1, 7-5
4) Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) def. Britney Larson (MU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1
5) Amy Allin (ILL) def. Megan Martzolf (MU) 6-3, 7-6 (3)
6) Kristina Minor (ILL) def. Riekie Honiball (MU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1