After dropping the doubles point in their last two matches, the Illini have spent all week in practice nailing down the basics. The team will face No. 22 Tennessee on Saturday, a team coming off a 4-3 victory over No. 12 North Carolina on Monday that lasted seven hours.

The Illini have struggled to finish out close doubles matches lately and will have a very difficult challenge Saturday when their No. 1 duo of sophomore Megan Fudge and redshirt freshman Leigh Finnegan faces the No. 2 doubles pair in the country in Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor. Whoriskey was just named the SEC’s player of the week.

Head coach Michelle Dasso said she wants her doubles players to stick to what works this weekend instead of trying out new tactics.

“We struggled with our first volleys (last weekend), so that was our focus the last couple of days in practice,” Dasso said. “I think we were just reaching for too many volleys instead of getting our feet underneath us.”

Dasso said Fudge and Finnegan must have a high percentage of first serves and volleys to keep their match close.

Freshmen Annie McCarthy and Marisa Lambropoulos will resume their position at the No. 2 spot in doubles, where they have dropped their last two matches 9-7 and 8-6. The duo has been working closely with Dasso this past week in practice to figure out what it needs to do differently to win the doubles point.

“We met with Michelle and watched the video from one of our matches,” McCarthy said. “We really need to work on the first volley because we were missing that a lot, but every time we made it we won the point.”

McCarthy has been sick all week but feels she will be better in time for Saturday’s match.

There is one change in the Illini lineup this weekend as senior Momei Qu will move up to play at No. 4 singles, while sophomore Kristina Minor will play at No. 5. Qu has won all three of her singles matches this season in straight sets, giving up a total of only 10 games in the process.

“Momei is just really playing better,” Dasso said. “She’s been killing her opponents.”

“Kristina can hopefully gain a little more confidence,” she added.

Qu said she does not think about the results in doubles play. Rather, she focuses on approaching her singles matches with a generally positive attitude.

“I am pretty confident in the skills of all our singles players, so sometimes I don’t even realize the impact of doubles until after the match is over,” Qu said.

Dasso believes the team has an abundance of talent and once the women realize it they will go far come Big Ten season.

“I really have a lot of confidence in this team,” Dasso said. “I really feel any team we play this year we have a chance of going out there and surprising some people.”

Saturday’s match against the Volunteers is the first stop on a two-game road trip for the Illini. On Feb. 3, they will travel to Tallahassee, Fla., to take on Florida State.