March 13, 2009
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill. - The No. 33 Illinois women's tennis team faced the best in collegiate tennis and gave Northwestern a hard-fought battle, but dropped a 6-1 decision to the No. 1 Wildcats this evening at the Combe Tennis Center in Evanston, Ill. The Illini had a quick setback in doubles to trail early, 1-0, and from there, the top-ranked Wildcats singles lineup proved to be too much down the stretch. Junior Megan Fudge improved to 12-1 on the dual match season with an upset win over No. 36-ranked Samantha Murray of Northwestern at No. 2 singles.
"In general, Northwestern is No. 1 for a reason and we saw that tonight," Illinois head coach Michelle Dasso said. "Obviously, it was nice to get a point on the board with (Megan) Fudge getting a huge win over a very good opponent tonight. We learned what we need to improve on and hope to get another chance to face them at the Big Ten Tournament later on this season."
The Illini are now 10-3 overall and 2-1 in conference matches this season.
The Wildcats started out strong in doubles with victories at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to seal the 1-0 early lead. At No. 1 doubles, the Fighting Illini tandem of redshirt-sophomore Leigh Finnegan and freshman Chelcie Abajian gave the No.22-ranked duo of Lauren Lui and Georgia Rose (NU) all they could handle, but in the end fell short, 8-6.
In singles, it was a battle on every court. The score was not indicative of the effort from the Orange and Blue across the board, but in the end, the play of the Wildcats proved to be the difference as they improved to 12-1 overall and 3-0 in Big Ten play.
In the lone Illini victory at No. 2 singles, junior Megan Fudge showed her feisty play once again. Fudge is now 18-5 overall and 12-1 in dual matches this season. In the final match on court, it was a battle between the Kaarst, Germany native and NU's Samantha Murray at No. 2 singles. Fudge took the first set 6-4 and went up a break in the second to take a 4-2 lead. Murray countered to even the score at 4-4. However, Fudge maintained her composure and closed out the match and the win with a 6-4 victory in the second set.
Up next, the Illini travel to Madison, Wis., to take on the No. 72 Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday, March 15, at 11 a.m. CT. Wisconsin does not have live scoring capability, but will provide fans with an in-match blog that can be found at uwbadgers.com. A complete recap of the match can be found at fightingillini.com at the conclusion of play.
Match Results
#1 Northwestern 6, #33 Illinois 1
March 13, 2009
Combe Tennis Center
Singles Competition
#2 Maria Mosolova (NU) def. #86 Leigh Finnegan (ILL) 6-0, 6-2
Megan Fudge (ILL) def. #36 Samantha Murray (NU) 6-4, 6-4
#109 Lauren Lui (NU) def. Chelcie Abajian (ILL) 6-0, 6-4
Nazalie Ghazal (NU) def. Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) 6-3, 6-1
Keri Robison (NU) def. Amy Allin (ILL) 6-4, 6-4
Stacey Lee (NU) def. Shivani Davé (ILL) 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 4,1,3,5,6,2
Doubles Competition
#22 Lauren Lui/Georgia Rose (NU) def. Leigh Finnegan / Chelcie Abajian (ILL) 8-6
#42 Maria Mosolova/Keri Robison (NU) def. Megan Fudge / Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) 8-1
Elena Chernyakova/Samantha Murray (NU) def. Amy Allin / Annie McCarthy (ILL) 8-3
Order of Finish: 3,2,1
