University of Illinois
Kentucky
Orange and Blue Primed for February Homestand
February 5, 2016 | Women's Tennis
Illinois will play all four February matches at the Atkins Tennis Center
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URBANA, Ill. – After three matches on the road, Illinois Women's Tennis returns to the friendly confines of the Atkins Tennis Center for four-consecutive home matches that will span the month of February. The Fighting Illini will open their homestand this weekend when 22nd-ranked Kentucky comes to town. Action is slated for Saturday, Feb. 6, at 6 p.m. CT.
This will mark the fourth-ever meeting between the Fighting Illini and Wildcats, as Kentucky leads the series 0-2-1 all-time. Prior to last season's match in Lexington (UK 4, UI 0), the most recent meeting between the two sides came in 1977, the only of the three completed matches to be played at Illinois. Saturday's match will be the first time that the Illini and Wildcats meet on the courts of the Atkins Tennis Center.
Illinois continues its stretch of playing some of the nation's top competition. With 22nd-ranked Kentucky coming to town, the Illini will have faced teams ranked 33rd or better in four-straight matches. At the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, the Orange and Blue got the best of No. 30 Virginia Tech in a 4-3 thriller to advance to play the campus-site host, Texas Tech. Ranked No. 17, the Red Raiders defeated Illinois 4-1 the following day. In the Fighting Illini's last match, they faced 33rd-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend, but fell 2-5.
Doubles play has remained strong for the Fighting Illini, with the team combining for a 12-1 record. Illinois has yet to relinquish a doubles point on the 2016 campaign. Louise Kwong and Ines Vias combined to take down Texas Tech's duo of Lynn Kiro and Alex Valenstein, the 25th-ranked tandem in the most recent ITA poll, in a 6-1 fashion to highlight the Illini doubles play.
After this weekend's contest against No. 22 Kentucky, Illinois will host a match each of the next three weekends to close out the month of February. South Florida comes to town for a 6 p.m. match on Feb. 13, followed by No. 41 DePaul and 26th-ranked Northwestern the following two weekends, respectively.
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