Results
MADISON, Wis. – Illinois Women's Tennis won its fifth-consecutive match over the Wisconsin Badgers this afternoon at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium. The Orange and Blue improved to 21-5 overall in doubles matches this dual season and claimed the contest's final three matches to secure the 4-3 comeback victory. Illinois is now 5-5 on the season while the Badgers fell to 3-7.
"We certainly dug ourselves a hole in singles," opened Illinois head coach Evan Clark. "To their credit, Jerricka, Ines and Alexis were able to dig us out. To lose all six first sets in singles and come back shows us there is a problem, but also shows a tremendous amount of fight from our team."
The Fighting Illini extended their doubles dominance through another match, besting the Badgers 2-1 to claim the afternoon's opening point. Illinois has won the doubles point in its last four matches and now in nine of 10 matches this season.
Louise Kwong and Ines Vias picked up their fourth-consecutive victory on the top court. The Illini duo improved to 6-1 in dual play and 2-0 in Big Ten action with the 6-1 win over Wisconsin's Lauren Chypyha and Kendall Kirsch.
Second to finish was No. 2 doubles, where Jerricka Boone and Madie Baillon fell in a 6-3 decision to the Badgers' Rider/Stepanova tandem. Moments later, Alexis Casati and Daniela Pedraza Novak, who were down as much as 3-5, completed their comeback to give Illinois the doubles decision with a 7-5 victory.
The first match off of the singles courts this afternoon was at No. 1, where Wisconsin's Chypyha took down Kwong in a straight-set decision reading 6-3, 6-1. With the victory, the Badgers knotted the contest at 1-1.
Not long after, Wisconsin took a 2-1 lead in the match with a victory at No. 5 singles. Baillon fell to Grambeau of the Badgers in a 6-1, 6-2 decision. Soon after, the Badgers grabbed a 3-1 lead with a win at No. 6. Illinois' Jaclyn Switkes fell in straight sets of 6-4, 6-3 to the Badgers' Burich.
UI would go on to take the final three contests, winning the second and third sets in each to complete the comeback victory.
Boone pulled the Illini within 2-3 with a three-set win at No. 4. After falling in the first set, the junior fired back to win by a final line of 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Freshman Vias was the next Illini to turn in a three-set win and knot the match at 3-3. After falling just short in a tiebreaker in the opening set, Vias fired back with a pair of 6-1 set wins to win at No. 3 singles.
All eyes turned to the second court, where Casati and Wisconsin's Stepanova were battling over for winning tally on the afternoon. Despite falling in the opening frame 6-4, the Illini captain mounted a comeback. After trailing 2-3 in the second set, Casati registered four-straight games to force a decisive third set. The junior took the final set by a 6-3 decision.
"It was great to have Alexis out there, last match on, fighting and clawing for every point," shared Clark. "We are really proud of the way she handled those moments."
The Illini will continue their weekend action in Madison, Wisconsin, as they face off against 30th-ranked William & Mary tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. No live scoring will be available for the neutral-site match, but updates will be available from the team's Twitter account (@IlliniWTennis).
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Illinois 4, Wisconsin 3
Doubles
1: Louise Kwong/Ines Vias def. Chypyha/Kirsch (WIS) – 6-1
2: Rider/Stepanova (WIS) def. Jerricka Boone/Madie Baillon – 6-3
3: Alexis Casati/Daniela Pedraza Novak def. Grambeau/Burich – 7-5
Singles
1: Lauren Chypyha (WIS) def. Louise Kwong – 6-3, 6-1
2: Alexis Casati def. Stepanova (WIS)– 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
3: Ines Vias def. Kirsch (WIS) – 6(3)-7, 6-1, 6-1
4: Jerricka Boone def. Avgerinos (WIS) – 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
5: Grambeau (WIS) def. Madie Baillon – 6-1, 6-2
6: Burich (WIS) def. Jaclyn Switkes – 6-4, 6-3
