April 27, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illini women's tennis team (9-12, 5-5 Big Ten) will travel to conference regular-season champion Michigan for the 2011 Big Ten Tournament, April 28-May 1, in Ann Arbor at the Varsity Tennis Center. Illinois, which tied for fifth place in the regular season with a record of 5-5, will be the sixth seed in the tournament and will face 11th-seeded Michigan State in the first round on Thursday, April 28 at noon CT. The winner will face No. 3 seed Purdue in the quarterfinals on Friday at 1 p.m. CT.
Four other teams will be in action on Thursday, as No. 8 Minnesota and No. 9 Iowa will square off at 9 a.m. CT and No. 7 Indiana will take on No. 10 Penn State at noon CT. The top five teams received byes into Friday's quarterfinals including top-seeded Michigan, No. 2 Northwestern, No. 3 Purdue, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Wisconsin. Michigan earned the No. 1 seed after finishing 10-0 to claim its second straight Big Ten regular-season title and third overall.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
The Big Ten Network will broadcast the championship match tape-delayed on Saturday, May 7 at 9 a.m. CT. Live scoring will be available throughout the weekend HERE.
BIG TEN IN THE RANKINGS
Two Big Ten teams currently occupy the top 25 in the latest Campbell/ITA national team rankings released Tuesday, including Michigan at No. 10 and Northwestern at No. 19. Also making appearances in the rankings are Ohio State (No. 58) and Purdue (No. 61).
Individually, the Big Ten boasts 12 athletes in the top 125 singles rankings including Denise Muresan (UM, No. 7), Maria Mosolova (NU, No. 13), Leslie Hureau (IU, No. 57), Sam Critser (UM, No. 66), Brooke Bolender (UM, No. 74), Belinda Niu (NU, No. 75), Brittany Wowchuk (NU, No. 78), Natalia Pintusava (MINN, No. 83), Whitney Taney (UM, No. 100), Sonja Molnar (IOWA, No. 103), Rachael White (ILL, No. 105) and Evgeniya Vertesheva (IU, No. 114).
The Big Ten also makes 10 appearances in the top 90 doubles including Bolender/Muresan (UM, No. 9), Mushrefova/Hamilton (NU, No. 11), Molnar/Young (IOWA, No. 29), White/Falkin (ILL, No. 39), Barton/Bohrer (MSU, No. 40), Hureau/Sopel (IU, No. 56), Rabot/Schmidt (PUR, No. 60), Taney/Tatsuno (UM, No. 65), Abajian/Smutko (ILL, No. 73) and Chernyakova/Mushrefova (NU, No. 75).
2010 BIG TEN TOURNAMENT RECAP
Illinois earned the third seed in the 2010 Big Ten Tournament and a bye into the quarterfinals, where it knocked off Purdue, 4-2, to advance to the semifinals. After dropping the doubles point, the Illini secured the four singles wins it needed to rally past sixth-seeded Purdue.
Against Northwestern in the semifinals, the Illini found themselves in the opposite position after securing the elusive doubles point, but the Wildcats proved to be too much in singles and handed Illinois a 4-2 loss to end its run in the tournament.
ILLINI IN THE RANKINGS
The Illini made three appearances in the latest Campbell/ITA national rankings released Tuesday, as sophomore Rachael White checked in at No. 105 in singles and No. 39 in doubles with freshman Allison Falkin, while junior Chelcie Abajian and sophomore Breanne Smutko came in at No. 73.
NET NOTES
*Illinois began the spring season ranked No. 25 in the first ITA national rankings of 2011, after finishing the 2010 season with its first top-25 final ranking since 2004.
*Junior Amy Allin has been one of the most consistent Illini this season and currently leads the team with 21 wins, just five shy of her career-high 26 tallied her freshman year. She has played primarily at the Nos. 1 and 2 positions, recording nine wins between the two spots.
*Sophomore Rachael White ranks second on the team with 17 wins to top her 14 from a year ago. She has been the only Illini to remain ranked in both singles and doubles the entire dual season, reaching as high as No. 92 in singles and No. 9 in doubles with freshman Allison Falkin. The duo leads the team with 16 wins, including eight at the No. 1 spot.
*The injury bug has struck the team on multiple occasions this season. Senior Marisa Lambropoulos will be returning next season after being forced to redshirt the year with a wrist injury, while freshman Misia Kedzierski has missed the majority of the dual season with a stress fracture in her foot. Most recently, junior Chelcie Abajian suffered an ankle injury during the Indiana match on April 3 and missed the remainder of the regular season, but may be able to return to the lineup in the postseason.
TOP-NOTCH COMPETITION
Illinois opened the dual season with four straight matches against then top-30 teams including Notre Dame, Tennessee, South Florida and Iowa. The opponents did not get any easier down the stretch, as the Illini went on to face six more teams inside the top 30, including four in the top 25 (Texas, San Diego, Northwestern, Michigan).
LAST TIME OUT VS. MICHIGAN STATE - April 17
The Illini defeated Michigan State, 6-1, on April 17 in its final home match of the regular season. Seniors Leigh Finnegan and Annie McCarthy ended the home slate on a positive note, finishing one-two in singles to help lead the Illini to victory.
In doubles, Finnegan and junior Amy Allin won their eighth match of the year with a victory over Olga Chernova and Katarina Lingl, 8-2, and the 25th-ranked tandem of sophomore Rachael White and freshman Allison Falkin clinched the point with an 8-3 defeat of No. 27 Amy Barton and Marina Bohrer. White and Falkin lead the team with 16 wins, including four in Big Ten play. McCarthy and Finnegan made quick of their opponents, as McCarthy downed Dana Guentert, 6-2, 6-3, for her sixth straight win, and Finnegan cruised past Nicole Herzog, 6-1, 6-1, for her second Big Ten win. With a 3-1 advantage, Falkin rallied past Bohrer, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1, to clinch the match and collected her 16th win of the year.
LAST TIME OUT VS. PURDUE - April 3
In a battle down to the final match, the Illini were victorious over Purdue, 4-3, on April 3 at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex. Junior Chelcie Abajian clinched the win for the Illini with a three-set victory at the No. 3 spot.
Illinois got off to a solid start in doubles, as it swept all three matches by a score of 8-6 to take a 1-0 advantage over the Boilermakers. In singles, junior Amy Allin collected her team-best 17th win of the season with a swift 6-1, 6-3, defeat of Jennifer Rabot. Purdue evened the score with wins at the Nos. 4 and 6 spots, before No. 96 sophomore Rachael White downed Bhavani Tirumurti, 7-6 (3), 7-5. A Boilermaker win at the No. 5 spot notched the score at 3, but Abajian held on in the final match of the day to defeat Anna Dushkina, 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-3.
MCCARTHY SELECTED AS 2011 WILSON/ITA PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
Senior Annie McCarthy and Carlos Hernandez of the University of Texas were selected as the 2011 Wilson/ITA National Promoter of the Year Award winners, the ITA announced last week.
The Wilson/ITA National Promoter of the Year Award recognizes individuals who promote the game of tennis at the collegiate level by devoting consistent time and effort to promotional activities and who support and bring awareness to either their school program or to the sport as a whole. Both student-athletes have been selected to receive a paid summer internship at Wilson's global headquarters in Chicago, Ill.
During her time as a member of the Illinois women's tennis team, McCarthy has played an active role in the promotion of the program in various capacities. The Chicago native is currently an intern at local radio station Mix 94.5, where she writes, produces and broadcasts a weekly "Illini Preview" segment to promote Illinois athletics, which includes interviews with fellow student-athletes. Prior to her stint at the Mix, McCarthy worked as an intern at Inasectv.com and was responsible for writing and promoting weekly tennis blogs, which topped other interns for most hits in the first three months. Additionally, McCarthy also has contributed blogs for fightingillini.com, providing a behind-the-scenes look at each year's team.
ABAJIAN CHOSEN FOR 2011 NCAA CAREER IN SPORTS FORUM
Junior Chelcie Abajian has been selected to participate in the 2011 NCAA Career in Sports Forum, June 12-15, at the Downtown Marriott in Indianapolis. The selection committee received more than 1,100 student-athlete nominations and 850 completed applications. Upon review, 303 student-athletes were selected to participate in 10 sport-specific coaching tracks and one administration track.
The coaching track includes the following sports: cross country/track and field, basketball, field hockey, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and volleyball. The administrator track will cover the internal and external operations of an intercollegiate athletics department, which includes, but not limited to: academics, communications, compliance, development, event management, marketing, etc.
A selection committee comprised of 12 members reviewed and scored each completed application. Based on each student-athlete's average score, score comparisons were conducted by track (e.g. administration, sport-specific coaching, etc.), where the top scoring applicants in their selected track were chosen as 2011 Forum participants.
