Oct. 22, 2009

EVANSTON, Ill. - The Fighting Illini women's tennis team began qualifying singles play earlier today at the Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships hosted by Northwestern University. After receiving a first-round bye, freshman Breanne Smutko swept Elena Ivanova of Michigan State, 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the third round where she will take on No. 7-seed Hannah Berner of Wisconsin.

The doubles main draw gets underway tomorrow, with teammates Leigh Finnegan and Marisa Lambropoulos and fifth-seeded Chelcie Abajian and Rachael White receiving byes in the first round, while Megan Fudge and Smutko will face Kirsten Gambrell and Cali Gustafson of DePaul.

In other regional action hosted by the University of Illinois, doubles play will open the tournament tomorrow morning with Amy Allin and Annie McCarthy taking on Jessica Buterbaugh and Kelly Donohue (Bradley), while Kristina Minor and Christine Stromberg drew Nicole Miller and Emily Regenold (Bradley). Singles play is scheduled to follow in the afternoon.