Among some of the best competition in the country at the Kentucky Fall Invitational this weekend, the Illini women’s tennis team learned a lot about itself and what it will take to get to the next level of competition.

The Illini finished with a record of 12-16 in singles and 4-4 in doubles, but they were not concerned as much about results as they were with improving upon their last tournament.

“We got in a ton of matches,” said Illinois head coach Sujay Lama. “That’s exactly what we wanted. We definitely saw lots of improvement this weekend, especially from our younger players.”

Freshmen Momei Qu and Macall Harkins, playing in their second collegiate tournament, showed their potential.

Qu finished the tournament 2-1 in singles, recording both of her wins against the top-seated singles players from Arkansas and Ohio State. Qu defeated Arkansas’ No. 1 Maryori Franco in two sets in the opening round of the tournament on Friday, 6-3, 6-4. Then Qu dominated Big Ten foe Ohio State’s Emily DeCamilla in two sets, 6-0, 6-0.

Although Harkins did not fare as well as Qu in singles, finishing with a record of 1-2, she had a strong weekend. Along with junior Brianna Knue, she won two of three doubles matches.

“We did have some bright spots,” Lama said. “Momei had a nice win over Arkansas’ No. 1 player, for example.”

Knue and Harkins were not the only bright spots in doubles for the Illini. Senior Cynthya Goulet and sophomore Emily Wang, who are ranked No. 44 in the nation in doubles, went 2-1 in the tournament.

Although the Illini had some players fare well, they still have a lot they need to improve upon.

“Our players need to do a better job capitalizing when they have their chances to put their opponents away,” Lama said. “Also, our freshmen are not used to playing so many matches in such a short time,”

Overall, the Illini are further along now than they were at Western Michigan two weeks ago, Lama said.

“We definitely had some ups and downs, but we continue to make progress,” Lama said. “We have a lot of work to do, but we’re starting to come together, slowly, but surely.”