July 28, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Members of the Fighting Illini women's tennis team came up just short this past weekend at the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit tournament hosted by Indiana University July 25-28, falling in the championship match in singles and doubles play.

No.2-seed Leigh Finnegan battled past three opponents before meeting teammate Chelcie Abajian in the quarterfinals, where she claimed a 6-4, 6-4 decision to advance to the semifinals against third-seeded Ashley Murdock (Memphis). Finnegan cruised to the finals with a 6-0, 6-3 victory before being defeated by No. 4-seed Michelle Sammons (Purdue), 6-2, 3-6, 11-9. Top-seeded Megan Fudge fell to Sammons in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-4.

In doubles action, the duo of Abajian and Marisa Lambropoulos lost in the finale to Sammons and Yumi Matsuto (Western Michigan), 8-6, who had knocked off Fudge and incoming Illini freshman Rachael White in the semifinals, 8-5.

"It says good things about our program's future when all of our girls are playing in summer tournaments together," head coach Michelle Dasso said. "The team chemistry and desire for our team to keep working hard in the summertime will hopefully pay off to another successful season."

For complete tournament results visit: http://www.itatennis.com/Events/SummerCircuit.htm.