University of Illinois
Michigan
Illinois Effort Falls Short Against Wolverines
April 19, 2009 | Women's Tennis
April 19, 2009
URBANA, Ill. - The No. 33 Fighting Illini women's tennis team fell in a tight match, 6-1, against No. 18 Michigan this afternoon at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana. The senior day match was much closer than the score indicates as the Illini gave an applaud able effort on every court. The Wolverines took the doubles point winning by slim margins on each court. The Illini fall to 17-6 and 8-2 in the Big Ten, while Michigan improves to 15-5 overall and 9-1 in conference play.
"I'm extremely proud of this team," Illinois head coach Michelle Dasso said. "Finishing third in the regular season Big Ten standings is a huge achievement and we are headed in the right direction. We keep getting better and better each year and it's not because of luck. It's because we've worked our tails off. Obviously we lost 6-1, but it was a heck of a lot closer than that. Anyone at the match saw easily 2 points here or there it could have gone either way. The great news is we put ourselves in a very good situation in the Big Ten tournament with the third seed. So if we take care of business, we will get another chance and another crack at the Wolverines."
Illinois was quick to strike back at No. 5 singles when freshman Amy Allin evened the score at 1-1 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Michigan's Tania Mahtani.
On court 4 the Wolverines regained the lead as Taney defeated freshman Chelcie Abajian, 6-2, 6-2. The Wolverines did not let up the remainder of the match.
At No. 3 singles sophomore Marisa Lambropoulos dropped a close match, 7-6, 6-4 as the Wolverine's Denise Muresan added to the Wolverines advantage. While on court six, Illinois junior Kristina Minor battled in a close match falling just short to Michigan's Michelle Sulahian, 7-5, 7-6.
On court 1, No. 99-ranked redshirt-sophomore Leigh Finnegan took her first set against the Wolverines, 7-6, but No. 70-ranked Chisako Sugiyama (MICH) forced a third set where she won the super tiebreaker 10-2. No. 75-ranked junior Megan Fudge also battled into a third set, but No. 106 Rika Tatsuno (MICH) was able to secure the victory at No. 2 singles.
The Illini now head to the 2009 Big Ten Tournament, hosted by the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, April 23-26, as the No. 3 seed and will face the winner of the #6/#11 match on Friday, April 24.
Match Results
April 19, 2009 (Urbana, Ill.)
#18 Michigan 6, #33 Illinois 1
Singles competition
1. #70 Chisako Sugiyama (MICH) def. #99 Leigh Finnegan (ILL) 6-7 (3-7), 5-3, 10-2
2. #106 Rika Tatsuno (MICH) def. #75 Megan Fudge (ILL) 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-4
3. Denise Muresan (MICH) def. Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) 7-6 (7-1), 6-3
4. Whitney Taney (MICH) def. Chelcie Abajian (ILL) 6-2, 6-2
5. Amy Allin (ILL) def. Tania Mahtani (MICH) 6-1, 6-4
6. Michelle Sulahian (MICH) def. Kristina Minor (ILL) 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
Doubles competition
1. #24 Chisako Sugiyama/Tania Mahtani (MICH) def. Chelcie Abajian/Leigh Finnegan (ILL) 8-5
2. Rika Tatsuno/Whitney Taney (MICH) def. Megan Fudge/Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) 8-7 (7-5)
3. Lindsey Howard/Denise Muresan (MICH) def. Amy Allin/Annie McCarthy (ILL) 8-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,4,3,6,1,2)
