April 2, 2010

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - With the non-conference portion of its schedule complete, the 37th-ranked Illini women's tennis team (8-7, 2-1 Big Ten) will now turn its attention to Big Ten play, as it welcomes No. 42 Purdue (13-1, 2-1) to the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex on Sunday, April 4 at 10 a.m. Illinois has won five of its last six matches, including two over Big Ten foes Indiana and Wisconsin.

"Purdue is having a very solid year and we expect an absolute battle on Sunday morning," head coach Michelle Dasso said. "Our girls are in Big Ten focus mode for the remainder of the season and are hungry to prove to the rest of the teams in our conference how good we really are. When each one of our girls comes prepared to both play and compete with the high intensity we know we are capable of, we are going to be one heck of a team to beat."

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LAST TIME OUT
The Illini closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule March 26 with a 7-0 victory over College of Charleston. Illinois swept all three doubles matches for the fourth time in six matches and collected its second shutout of the season.

After cruising in doubles, freshman Rachael White claimed the first singles match for the Illini with a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win over Irene Viana. Sophomore Chelcie Abajian followed with a victory over Keely Mulligan, 6-3, 6-1, and junior Marisa Lambropoulos clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Kinsey Casey. Also recording wins for the Illini was freshman Breanne Smutko, 6-1, 6-3 over Anna Lee Evans, while junior Leigh Finnegan rallied past Laura Borza, 5-7, 6-1, 1-0, and senior Megan Fudge topped Caroline Newman, 5-7, 6-2, 1-0.

ILLINI IN THE RANKINGS
The duo of Megan Fudge and Leigh Finnegan continued to climb the doubles rankings, checking in at No. 50 this week, which was up five spots. In singles, Fudge climbed 13 spots in the singles rankings, checking it at No. 106.

SCOUTING PURDUE
After opening the season unranked, Purdue quickly made a name for itself with nine straight wins to start the season and eventually reached as high as No. 33 in the rankings. The Boilermakers' lone loss of the season came on March 6 against then-No. 1 Northwestern, 5-2, but they rebounded right back to win the next four matches, including a 4-3 victory over then-No. 30 Ohio State the following week.

Purdue has excelled in doubles play this year, only losing the doubles point twice all season and have swept all three doubles matches six times in 14 matches, including three straight. Third-year head coach Laura Glitz has had the same lineup at 1-5 singles for each of the 14 matches this year and also has played the same pairs at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles.

At No. 1 doubles, Jennifer Rabot has teamed with Michelle Sammons to go 13-1, while Imogen Golder and Bhavani Tirumurti have gone 11-3 at No. 3 doubles. Rabot checked in at No. 110 in the rankings and has played every singles match at the No. 2 spot, with a spotless 14-0 record. Sammons has tallied an 8-6 record at No. 1 singles, while Tirumurti and Anna Dushkina are 10-4 at No. 3 and 4, respectively, and Golder is 11-3 at the five spot.

UP NEXT
The Illini will hit the road next weekend for a pair of matches beginning on Saturday, April 10 at No. 26 Iowa at 11 a.m. CT.