Late Comeback Comes Up Short at Iowa

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Illinois closed its Big Ten-opening road trip with a loss at No. 45 Iowa on Sunday. After dropping the doubles point, Illinois earned wins at No. 2, 5, and 6 singles for the final 4-3 decision from the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex.

Illinois moved to 5-7 on the season and 1-1 in Big Ten play with the setback in Iowa City. No. 45 Iowa improved to 8-5 overall and 2-0 in conference play with Sunday's decision.

Iowa claimed the day's doubles point after taking the decisions at No. 2 and 1, respectively. Illinois' No. 3 duo of McKenna Schaefbauer and Kimiko Cooper picked up a 6-4 win, moving them to 3-7 when working together on the dual season and 1-1 in Big Ten play.

The Hawkeyes pushed the lead to 2-0 as play at No. 3 singles wrapped up and then out to 3-0 with the decision at No. 4 singles.

From there, Illinois forced third sets on the remaining four courts. 

Alice Xu got the Illini on the board with a three-set, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 5 singles. The victory pushed the junior to 5-3 in singles play this season, 4-1 in dual action, and 1-0 in Big Ten matches. 

Action at No. 2 and 6 singles would conclude simultaneously, with both matches going in favor of the Fighting Illini to knot the match at 3-3. At No. 6 singles, Mester picked up her second Big Ten win in as many chances, earning a 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3) victory. Mester is now 11-3 overall, 5-1 in dual play, and 2-0 in Big Ten matches. 

At No. 2, Cooper held on for a three-set win of her own. The freshman was the lone Illini to claim her first set of action. Cooper won 6-1 in her third set and improved to 5-4 on the dual campaign and 1-0 in B1G play.

With the score knotted at 3-3, all eyes turned to the ranked matchup on the top court. After trailing 4-2 in the final set, Schaefbauer battled back to force a tiebreaker but would eventually fall, 7-5, as Iowa clinched the match.

NEXT UP

The Fighting Illini return home and will host Bradley on Wednesday, March 11 from the Atkins Tennis Center. Action is slated for 4 p.m. CT.

ILLINOIS (5-7) 3, NO. 45 IOWA (8-5) 4

Doubles:
1 - No. 25 Daianne Hayashida/ Mia Mack (Iowa) def. No. 86 Tess Bucher/Alice Xu (Illinois - 6-4
2 - Tereza Dejnozkova/ Nikita Vishwase (Iowa) def. Ariel Madatali/Cara Mester (Illinois) - 6-1
3 - McKenna Schaefbauer/Kimiko Cooper (Illinois) def. Emma Tothova/Pia Kransholdt (Iowa) - 6-4

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

Singles: 
1 - No. 87 Mia Mack (Iowa) def. No. 34 McKenna Schaefbauer (Illinois) - 7-5, 6-7(0), 7-6(5)
2 - Kimiko Cooper (Illinois) def. Daianne Hayashida (Iowa) - 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-1
3 - Tereza Dejnokova (Iowa) def. Ariel Madatali (Illinois) - 6-2, 6-0
4 - Emma Tothova (Iowa) def. Tess Bucher (Illinois) - 6-1, 6-3
5 - Alice Xu (Illinois) def. Nikita Vishwase (Iowa) - 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
6 - Cara Mester (Illinois) def. Pia Kranholdt (Iowa) - 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3)

Order of finish: 3, 4, 5, 6, 2, 1