This weekend senior Ashley Yeah and junior Kate Duong traveled to Cary, N.C., to compete at the ITA Women’s All-American Championships. The duo was selected for the pre-qualifying singles draw, which fed into the qualifying and main draws along with the qualifying doubles draw, which fed into the main draw. The competition had to work around the effects of Hurricane Ian, with matches being moved indoors when necessary.

In the pre-qualifying round of 128, Yeah knocked off thirteen-seeded Aran Teixido Garcia from Memphis with ease, winning 12 of the 15 total games in their match. Duong faced off against Lara Schneider from Indiana in a tight three-set match.

The round of 64 was held later that same day, where Yeah secured a win against Maria Martinez Vaquero from San Francisco after a 7-5 win in the second set. Meanwhile, Duong made quick work of Kat Lyman from Xavier, winning both sets by a large margin.

The round of 32 was the last round of pre-qualifiers, with the 16 winners advancing to the qualifying draw. Unfortunately for the Illini, only Duong made it past this round, as 12th-seeded Melodie Collard came out on top after a tight three-set match against Yeah.

In the qualifying round of 64, Duong matched up against No. 56 Elaine Chervinsky from Virginia. The two faced off earlier this season at the Wahoowa Invitational, where Duong and Yeah earned a 6-4 doubles victory over Chervinsky. However, this time around Chervinsky got the better of Duong, leaving no Illini remaining in the singles draw.

Yeah and Duong opened the doubles qualifying round strong with a decisive 8-1 victory over a duo from Texas A&M. Their momentum did not carry over into the second round where they suffered a 5-8 defeat to Michigan.

Against their fiercest competition of the fall season, Yeah and Duong came away with very impressive results. Having such top-heavy talent who can compete against the best of the best will be valuable for Illinois during its push for the NCAA tournament in the spring season.

Illinois women’s tennis will head to Nashville, Tenn., for the June Stewart Invitational this Friday, looking to continue this level of play.

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