Hot off of back-to-back ranked victories against No. 56 Maryland and No. 21 Wisconsin along with the addition of a 7-0 win over Minnesota due to forfeit, No. 31 Illinois women’s tennis returned home for a doubleheader weekend against No. 68 Nebraska and No. 53 Iowa. These matches were the closing chapter of Illinois’ 2023 season, and unfortunately for the Illini, there was not a happy ending. Despite putting up an impressive fight in both matches, the Illini fell 4-3 to the Cornhuskers and 4-1 at the hands of the Hawkeyes. With the Iowa matchup coinciding with Senior Night, seniors No. 81 Ashley Yeah and Emily Casati were honored for a successful four years of representing Illinois before the match.

The action began at 11 a.m. on Saturday, with Illinois and Nebraska competing on courts one, three, and five of the Atkins Center for a shot at the doubles point. Illinois’ top duo of No. 15 junior Kate Duong and sophomore Megan Heuser stood at the top of the mountain, with seniors Josie Frazier and Casati in the middle and an underclassmen pairing of sophomore Kida Ferrari and freshman Violeta Martinez rounding out Illinois’ group of doubles.

The Illini struck fast, as Ferrari and Martinez completely outclassed their Cornhusker counterparts from the jump. The two dominated their way to an elusive bagel (6-0) that put Illinois in good position to walk into singles with a 1-0 advantage. But Nebraska’s top two doubles were able to survive the pressure, as Frazier and Casati were bested to even the count, despite managing to force a 12th game (7-5). With all eyes now on court one, the Illini once again ended up on the wrong side of an intense set, as the Cornhuskers took the a deciding 7-5 victory in the tiebreaker game, to earn a 7-6 win overall.

From there, the Illini were fighting an uphill battle entering singles play. Trailing 1-0, a bit of light was provided when Heuser commanded her way into a 6-3, 6-2 straight set win on court 3 and evened the overall count at 1-1.

Further back and fourth between the two squads ensued, as court one was the next to wrap up with a similar, but opposite, result to Heuser’s dominance. Duong fell 6-3, 6-4 but Illinois jumped back into the match following sophomore Kasia Treiber’s 6-2, 7-5 win on court four and a clutch 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 court six performance from Martinez.

Needing just one more match to swing in their favor, Illinois fans turned to court two as Yeah was in the middle of a tightly contested third set after trading 6-1 showings with her opponent. Yeah and her Nebraska counterpart eventually proved to need a tiebreaker game in order to determine a winner of the match. It was unfortunately here where Yeah’s opponent began to break away, ultimately winning 7-2 in the tiebreaker game to keep the Cornhusker’s hopes alive.

The lone match in play was on court five, where Ferrari had battled back to force a third set after dropping the behind in the first. Ferrari fought hard once again, winning five of the eventual 12 games, but it was ultimately Nebraska who ended up on top of court five and the match as a whole.

Looking to shake off the 4-3 defeat, Illinois was now tasked with facing Iowa at 12 p.m. the following day.

The Illini sported a different look entering doubles play, with Casati being bumped up to stand alongside Heuser on court one and Yeah filling in the spot next to Frazier created by Casati’s movement. Ferrari and Martinez remained together to complete Illinois’ trio of doubles groups.

The doubles bug sadly continued for the Illini, as Frazier and Yeah fell 6-3 before Ferrari and Martinez were bested 6-4. Heuser and Casati were in a reasonable position to put Illinois on the board with a 5-4 lead but the match went unfinished due to the conclusion of the other two matches.

Singles play began with a grim look as well, as Iowa jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead due to straight set victories over Frazier and Ferrari on courts two and five respectively.

Even in light of the massive deficit there was still a glimmer of hope for the Illini, who were putting up a strong fight on each of the four remaining courts.

Needing perfection to have any shot at coming out on top, Heuser was doing just about that for Illinois. Opening the first set on a 5-0 tear, the sophomore from Lindenhurst slipped momentarily and let her opponent rip off four straight games of her own. However, she recovered and took care of business for a 6-4 victory. Wrapping up her next set with a dramatic 7-3 victory in a tiebreaker game, Heuser momentarily gave Illinois a spark and brought the overall score to 3-1.

The other three remaining courts were as contested as imaginable, with both Yeah and Martinez rebounding from first set losses to earn a third set while Treiber was in the middle of a third set of her own after handedly winning her first set but ending up on the wrong side of a tiebreaker game in her second set. Unfortunately for the Illini, the deficit proved to big to overcome and Iowa came out on top with a final score of 4-1.

While not thrilled by the pair of losses suffered this weekend, head coach Evan Clark believes this is not something that the Illini will dwell on, especially with the post season quickly approaching.

“Disappointing, obviously, it was a tough weekend for us,” Clark said. “Certainly not how we planned it. That’s just kind of the way it is, it’s sports. We’re gonna try and have a short memory and move on quickly, but credit to Nebraska and Iowa for playing better than us this weekend. We’ve got some things to figure out before the tournament.”

As the contributor of Illinois’ lone point on the day, Clark had high praise for Heuser, noting that the leap she took this season was incredible.

“(Heuser) executed great, she’s been unbelievable for us really all year,” Clark said, “Stepped up in doubles and singles, and then she was great again today.”

Illinois women’s tennis will be the three seed in the Big Ten tournament, facing the winner of Indiana and Iowa this Friday at 6 p.m.

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