LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fighting Illini women's tennis opened its 2023 dual campaign with a 4-3 victory at Kentucky on Sunday. After winning the doubles point, the Illini picked up wins on singles courts 2, 4 and 5.

"I'm so proud of the composure our group showed today," opened head coach Evan Clark. "We were put in some really tough situations today in both doubles and singles and I was so pleased how we navigated the match. We were on the wrong end of similar matches last year so again I'm so happy for our team to get started on the right foot."

Illinois is now 4-4 in season openers under head coach Evan Clark and is 1-0 on the 2023 campaign.

The Orange and Blue picked up the doubles point to open action from the Hillary J. Boone Indoor Tennis Center, winning on courts 1 and 3. Kida Ferrari and Ashley Yeah closed out a 6-3 win on court 3 first, then Emily Casati and Josie Frazier fell 6-4 on court two before Kate Duong and Megan Heuser secured the match's first point with a 7-5 victory on the top court.

Kentucky evened the match with a win at No. 2 singles before the Illini regained the lead with Heuser's 6-2, 7-6 (1) win on court 4. Play on court 1 wrapped up next as UK knotted the match at 2-2.

From there, Illinois won two of the next three singles matches as Yeah won 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 at No. 2 and Kasia Treiber clinched it with a 6-2, 6-4 victory at No. 5.

Match play finished up on court 6, where Kida Ferrari fell 6-2, 6-2.

Illinois is back in action next weekend at the NC State-hosted ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

FULL RESULTS

DOUBLES

Court 1 – Kate Duong/Megan Heuser def. Molina/Stevens (UK) – 7-5
Court 2 – Mills/Urrutia (UK) def. Emily Casati/Josie Frazier – 6-4
Court 3 – Kida Ferrari/Ashley Yeah def. Eades/Hammond (UK) – 6-3

SINGLES

Court 1 – Stevens (UK) def. Kate Duong – 7-6 (3), 6-3
Court 2 – Ashley Yeah def. Urrutia (UK) – 1-6, 6-4, 7-5
Court 3 – Molina (UK) def. Josie Frazier – 6-2, 6-2
Court 4 – Megan Heuser def. Gonzalez (UK) – 6-2, 7-6 (1)
Court 5 – Kasia Treiber def. Mills (UK) – 6-2, 6-4
Court 6 – Hammond (UK) def. Kida Ferrari – 6-2, 6-2

ORDER OF FINISH:

Doubles – 3, 2, 1
Singles – 3, 4, 1, 2, 5, 6