Box Score 
LUBBOCK, Texas –  The Fighting Illini women's tennis team used a gutsy, 4-3 win over the Princeton Tigers to advance to the NCAA Second Round in Lubbock, Texas. The Illini improve to 22-5 overall this season. Illinois's 22 wins matches the most in program history.

After dropping the doubles point, the Illini freshmen went to work on the singles courts. Emilee Duong won her seventh-straight singles match with a dominating, 6-1, 6-1 victory at the No. 6 position. Mia Rabinowitz gave Illinois its first lead of the day by extending her winning streak to 14 singles matches. The Tenafly, New Jersey, native topped Clare McKee, 6-1, 6-1 on court four. Asuka Kawai pushed the Illini lead to 3-1 after winning the final six games in her second set to defeat Stephanie Schrage, 6-1, 6-3.

Princeton answered with wins on courts one and five to even the match at 3-all. Junior Daniela Pedraza-Novak and Princeton's Nicole Kalhorn had split the first two sets and were locked in at 3-3 in the third set. The Illini junior broke Kalhorn and held serve to go up 5-3 in deciding set. Kalhorn held to take the match to 5-4, but the Bogota, Colombia, native answered with a hold in the final game to clinch the match, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Illinois will now take on No. 11 Texas Tech on Saturday at 1 pm.

Illini Notes

• Illinois made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2012.
• The Illini advanced to the NCAA Round of 32 for the third time in program history (2003, 2009).
• Illinois improves to 4-11 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
• 22 wins matches the 1981 squad for the most wins in program history.
• Rabinowitz has won 14-straight singles matches.
  • Rabinowitz's 28 overall singles wins this season moves her into the 10^th place on the Illini's Season Singles Wins list.   
• Duong has won seven-straight singles matches.
• Pedraza-Novak is now 4-0 in three-set matches. 

Illini Quotes 
"I am so proud of the girls and how they handled the conditions. We didn't play our best tennis, but the team came through with a gutsy win. Extremely happy for Daniela (Pedraza-Novak). She has been in those situations before and today she got over the hump and came through to clinch the match. We are really excited to play Texas Tech and excited for another opportunity." - head coach Evan Clark 

Final Results

#19 Illinois 4, Princeton 3

Doubles-Order of Finish: 3, 2*

1. Belaya/Pedraza-Novak (Illinois) vs. Kalhorn/Schrage (Princeton) 6-5, unf.
2. McKee/Steffensen (Princeton) def. Duong/Switkes (Illinois) 7-5
3. Goodwin/Rodilosso (Princeton) def. Kawai/Rabinowitz (Illinois) 6-2

Singles-Order of Finish: 6, 4, 2, 1, 5, 3*

1. Katrine Steffensen (Princeton) def. Jaclyn Switkes (Illinois) 7-6(2), 6-0
2. Asuka Kawai (Illinois) def. Stephanie Schrage (Princeton) 6-1, 6-3
3. Daniela Pedraza-Novak (Illinois) def. Nicole Kalhorn (Princeton) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Mia Rabinowitz (Illinois) def. Clare McKee (Princeton) 6-1, 6-1
5. Gabriella Pollner (Princeton) def. Sasha Belaya (Illinois) 7-5, 6-1
6. Emilee Duong (Illinois) def. Nathalie Rodilosso (Princeton) 6-1, 6-1

Records: Illinois (22-5) | Princeton (19-4)

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