History repeated itself as the Illinois women’s tennis team fell to Minnesota 4-0 on Thursday, ending the Illini’s postseason play in the Big Ten Tournament.

Just four days prior to the match, the Gophers dropped Illinois 5-2 to end the regular season.

“I thought the match went obviously not as well as we had hoped,” head coach Michelle Dasso said.

“Our girls wanted a rematch, and they (Minnesota) were good enough to get it done again,” Dasso said.

Playing each other just days apart, the pressure was on Minnesota to defend its original win. Still, the Illini were excited to get a chance at such a recent opponent.

“We only had one day of practice between losing to them and playing them again in the Big Ten Tournament,” No. 2 singles player Momei Qu said. “We were really happy because all of us felt like we could beat our opponents.”

The match started out in favor of the Gophers as they easily swept the doubles portion to capture the first point.

With the early lead, Minnesota went on to win at the No. 2, 4 and 5 singles spots to finish the match.

The remaining singles matches went as “unfinished” giving the hosting team a ticket to the second round of the tournament.

Dasso said several of the girls played with illnesses, but that was not the reason for the disappointing outcome.

“If Shivani (Dave) was completely healthy, then she would have had a very good chance of winning her match,” Dasso said.

The No. 3-singles player stopped the match at 7-6 (7-3), 3-3. Senior Emily Wang was named Illinois’ Sportsmanship Award Honoree, an honor that highlights a player’s dedication and ethical behavior on and off the court.

Wang just finished her final season with the Illini as part of the No. 1-doubles duo with Megan Fudge, and the No. 6-singles player.

Taking a few weeks off, the team will get back to training in the middle of the summer break.

“Over the summer, we are going to try to stay in shape, get better in our tennis game,” Qu said. “Focus on keeping in good condition, so when we get back in the fall we won’t have to start over.”

Illinois finished the season with a 5-17 record and 1-9 standing in Big Ten play.