URBANA, Ill. – The Fighting Illini women's tennis team won its fourth straight match over Northwestern with Saturday's 5-1 win from Atkins Tennis Center. The Orange and Blue climbed to 8-1 in home matches with the victory.
"This was one of those moments where you are just really happy for your team," began head coach Evan Clark. "Our team works very hard, and they care tremendously, so it's fun to see them have success as a group in a big match setting.
"It hasn't been easy for the squad this year, but they have really continued to grow and find ways to win no matter the circumstances. We feel like our best tennis is still ahead of us and this win will certainly provide another notch of confidence to our belt."
No. 41 Illinois improves to 12-6 on the season and 4-1 in league play with Saturday's win over Northwestern.
No. 37 Northwestern moved to 13-5 overall including a 4-1 mark in Big Ten play with the loss.
Northwestern took the doubles point to open the match. The Wildcats earned wins at No. 3 and No. 1, respectively while action at No. 2 was tied at 5-5 and went unfinished.
The first singles match in the books belonged to the Illini as Kasia Treiber earned a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles. Both of her sets were tied at 3-3 before she won the last three games of each. Treiber is now 8-7 in dual singles play.
Kida Ferrari was the next singles match to conclude as the junior won a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 decision at No. 5. After working out to a 2-2 tie in the third set, Ferrari won three straight games en route to the victory. Ferrari is now 8-3 on the dual season.
Josie Frazier pushed Illinois' lead to 3-1 with a three-set win at No. 3 singles. After dropping the first frame 2-6, Frazier won 6-4, 6-2 in the following sets. She's up to an 8-4 dual record on the campaign.
From there, Alice Xu earned a hard-fought win at No. 6 singles, downing her opposition 7-5, 7-6 (6). The freshman trailed 3-5 in the tiebreaker before winning five of the next six points to secure the rivalry win for the Illini. McKenna Schaefbauer won her tiebreaker just seconds later, bringing the match's final score 5-1.
Xu has now won six straight matches and climbed to 5-0 in Big Ten play.
Schaefbauer won her match at No. 2 singles 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5) over No. 88 Justine Leong. The sophomore's record is now a team-best 13-6 overall, 10-3 in dual play, and 2-1 in Big Ten action.
Megan Heuser led 5-2 in the third set of her match at No. 1 singles when the victory was clinched.
Next week, Illinois will split time home and on the road. Minnesota will visit the Atkins Tennis Central on Friday, April 5 for a 3 p.m. match. From there, Illinois will hit the road for a contest at Wisconsin on Sunday, April 7.
FULL RESULTS: No. 41 ILLINOIS 5, #37 NORTHWESTERN 1
Doubles:
No. 1 – No. 50 Hand/Leong (NW) def. No. 47 Megan Heuser/Alice Xu – 6-4
No. 2 – Kida Ferrari/Josie Frazier vs. Lau/Shusharina (NW) - 5-5, unfinished
No. 3 – Pratt/Feldman (NW) def. McKenna Schaefbauer/Kasia Treiber– 6-4
Singles:
No. 1 – Megan Heuser vs. Maria Shusharina (NW) – 7-5, 2-6, 5-2, unfinished
No. 2 – McKenna Schaefbauer def. No. 88 Justine Leong (NW) – 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5)
No. 3 – Josie Frazier def. Christina Hand (NW) – 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 – Kasia Treiber def. Sydney Pratt (NW) – 6-3, 6-3
No. 5 – Kida Ferrari def. Kiley Rabjohns (NW) – 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
No. 6 – Alice Xu def. Britany Lau (NW) – 7-5, 7-6 (6)
Order of Finish:
Doubles: 3, 1
Singles: 4, 5, 3, 6, 2
Duration: 3:31
Attendance: 102
Played outdoors.
