Although the Illini came out fighting in doubles play on Saturday, they were unable to stop No. 22 Tennessee on the road. The Illini dropped to 2-2 on the season after the Lady Volunteers finished the day with a 6-1 victory and co-head coach Mike Patrick got his 400th collegiate victory.

Tennessee started things off with a quick victory at No. 3 doubles, but the Illini put up a fight at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. The team’s top two duos sprang out to 7-4 leads, though neither pair could get it done.

“The killer was losing the doubles point,” head coach Michelle Dasso said. “That was a big blow.”

Sophomore Megan Fudge and redshirt freshman Leigh Finnegan lost to the No. 2-ranked doubles pair in the nation in Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor 9-8 (4).

On court two, freshmen Marisa Lambropoulos and Annie McCarthy were unable to hold on to their lead as well. No. 26-ranked Ghizela Schutte and Rosalia Alda won four of the final five games of the set before their victory in the tiebreaker sealed the doubles point for the Lady Volunteers.

“We got to figure out how to win the doubles point,” Dasso said. “It doesn’t matter if you get close. We haven’t won one yet.”

In singles, the Illini did not look much better. The team’s only victory came at the No. 5 spot, where Kristina Minor topped Zubor in a match tiebreaker.

Lambropoulos put up a fight at the No. 3 spot after building a 5-2 lead in the first set, but Tennessee’s Samantha Orlin came back to win the final five games of the set and captured a 7-5, 6-2 victory. Junior Shivani Dave also put up a fight on court six, but fell 7-5, 7-6.

Finnegan lost her match at No. 2 singles 6-4, 6-3, but Dasso felt she played her best match of the season so far.

Next up, the Illini will travel to Tallahassee, Fla., on Feb. 3 to take on Florida State.

Dasso will go back to the drawing board to try different doubles teams in practice this week before the team heads to Florida.

“We have some good teams right now, but we got to find some teams who can win,” Dasso said.