Women's Tennis Heads to Nebraska Invite

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - For the first time this fall, the Illinois women's tennis team will travel the full squad to competition. The Fighting Illini are set to compete in the Nebraska Invite from the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Four student-athletes will make their Illinois debuts at the event from Sept. 26-28.

The Illini and Huskers will be joined by Wichita State, Iowa State, Missouri, and Kansas State. 

Two familiar faces will be at the event in former Illinois women's tennis associate head coaches Jacob Eddins and German Dalmagro. Eddins now leads the Wichita State program while Dalmagro enters his third campaign with Nebraska.

Last weekend, McKenna Schaefbauer and Ariel Madatali represented the Orange and Blue at the ITA All-American Championships in Cary, North Carolina. The duo competed in pre-qualifying singles and doubles. Schaefbauer earned a three-set win over [4] Martyna Ostrzygalo of Arizona.

Transfers Tess Bucher and Cara Mester will make their first appearances in the Orange and Blue and will be joined by Lizzie Isyanov and Risa Ueno, who will make their collegiate debuts.

With the departure of Jacob Eddins to Wichita State, Illinois women's tennis head coach Evan Clark hired former Fighting Illini student-athlete Alexis Casati Raines as the next associate head coach. Since her graduation from Illinois in 2017, the Deerfield, Ill., native made coaching stops at Western Michigan (2017-19), SMU (2019-20), Georgia Tech (2020-24), and SMU (2024-25) most recently. 

Raines arrived in Champaign-Urbana as a freshman for the 2013-14 campaign. When Raines was a sophomore, Clark arrived as an assistant coach before he served as interim head coach for her junior season. She was a senior on Clark's first squad as the full-time head coach of Illinois women's tennis. Raines and Clark are now reuniting eight seasons later.