URBANA, Ill. –After extending its winning streak to five matches, the Illinois women's tennis team will continue its homestand as No. 68 Indiana and Purdue come to town for a Big Ten weekend series. The 50th-ranked Illini squad owns a 10-6 record overall and a 4-1 mark in league play entering the weekend contests.
WEEKEND SLATE
No. 68 Indiana // Friday, April 8 // 4 p.m. CT
Purdue // Sunday, April 10 // Noon CT
AGAINST THE OPPONENTS
Friday afternoon's match between the Illini and Indiana will be the 47th contest between the two sides all time. Illinois claimed the 2015 match in an upset fashion, taking down the 24th-ranked Hoosiers 6-1 from the Atkins Tennis Center. Illinois has claimed the last seven matches against the Hoosiers to pull the all-time series to 13-33 in Indiana's favor. IU will enter Friday's match with a 13-6 record with a 3-2 reading in Big Ten action.
Purdue and Illinois will meet for the 60th time in program history on Sunday. Purdue owns a slim 31-28 lead in the all-time series. The sides did not meet during the 2015 slate due to the expansion of the Big Ten to 14 teams. Purdue will visit Evanston to take on Northwestern for a Friday match before heading to Urbana for Sunday's match. The Boilermakers enter weekend play with a 9-9 record and 2-3 reading in league play.
KWONG PICKS UP WEEKLY CONFERENCE HONOR
Illinois Women's Tennis junior Louise Kwong has been named the Big Ten Athlete of the Week after an undefeated weekend of play against Iowa and No. 75 Nebraska. The announcement was made by the league office on Tuesday, April 5. This marks the first weekly honor of the Toronto, Ontario, native's career in the Orange and Blue.
IN THE RANKINGS
Illinois' doubles tandem of Louise Kwong and Ines Vias have owned a spot in the top-50 ranked doubles teams in the nation in all but one poll since February 6. The duo currently ranks 43rd. As a team, Illinois comes in at No. 50 overall for its best ranking of the season.
Purdue owns two spots in the doubles rankings. The Boilermaker dup of Nicole Robinson and Andjela Djokovic rank at No. 60 while the tandem of Krisztina Kapitany and Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum came in at 83rd.
ILLINI DOUBLES DOMINANCE
The Fighting Illini enter this weekend's contests with a combined 31-8 record on the doubles courts. UI owns a 12-2 record at No. 1, an 8-4 mark at No. 2 and an 11-2 overall record at No. 3. Over the course of the season, Kwong and Vias have tallied a 19-6 record as a team including a perfect 5-0 mark in Big Ten play. The Illini have clinched the doubles point in 14 of their 16 matches so far this season.
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