The Illinois women’s tennis team’s regular season came to an end on Sunday with disappointing weekend losses to Iowa, 6-1, and Minnesota, 5-2.

In what proved to be another long, trying weekend for the Fighting Illini, the women were not able to pull together a full team effort to dispose of their two conference opponents.

Both conference rivals simply outplayed the Illini, but it was freshman Kristina Minor who was able to overcome Iowa’s Kayla Berry at the No. 4 singles spot, 7-5, 7-5, to secure the lone point for the Fighting Illini against the Hawkeyes.

“I was really proud to see Kristina fight and pull out the win today,” head coach Michelle Dasso said in a press release after the match. “It was good to see her bounce back in that match and finish it off.”

In Sunday’s match against the Golden Gophers, the women were able to put together a doubles showing they have been working on all season to begin the match with an early 1-0 lead.

No. 2 doubles partners Shivani Dave and Alejandra Meza Cuadra disposed of their opponents 8-4 as Minor and partner Momei Qu finished 8-3 over the Gophers No. 3 doubles partners.

Prior to the match, Qu, a junior for the Fighting Illini, had commented on how this had been her most successful year in doubles yet, noting that she and Minor have worked very well together.

Having the doubles point intact, the Gophers rallied to capture the No. 1 through No. 5 singles points.

The other Illinois point came from Cuadra as she defeated Minnesota’s Mikayla Rogers at the No. 6 singles spot, 6-3, 6-4.

Illinois finished out the regular season with a 5-16 overall record and 1-9 in Big Ten play.

The Illini will return to Minneapolis in a repeat of Sunday’s match as they face the No. 7 seed Minnesota Gophers at 3 p.m., on Thursday. The Big Ten Tournament is a single elimination tournament and will conclude on Sunday.