After dropping its first match of the year, Illinois (1-1, 0-0) responded with a 4-2 home win over Northwestern (3-1, 0-0). It was the Illini’s fifth straight victory over the Wildcats, with the all-time series now sitting at 7-26. This match did not count as conference play, which starts in early March.
Following the loss on Saturday, Northwestern eased the pain with a pair of wins on Sunday. Illinois does not play its next match until Friday when it hosts Georgia Tech.
Early success in doubles
In both of its matches so far, Illinois claimed the doubles point. The Illini did this without any currently ranked duos and last year’s No. 63 senior Megan Heuser and sophomore Alice Xu not playing together. However, Heuser and Xu have been key to Illinois’ success in doubles.
Xu has already partnered with junior Violeta Martinez and freshman Ariel Madatali. Despite the change in teammates, Xu is 2-0 in doubles matches this season. Her matches were extremely high-pressure, and she clinched the doubles point for Illinois, but the situation was much tighter against Northwestern.
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Courts one and two split their finishes, which shifted focus onto Xu and Martinez on court three. Tied at 6-6 after 12 games, their match was decided by a tiebreaker. Despite the circumstances, Xu and Martinez only surrendered three points in the tiebreaker and won 7-6(3).
“(We were) just feeding off each other and trying not to get too negative,” Xu said. “That affects your partner a lot, too. We had a big lead, and we let it go a little bit, so our energy started to go down, but constantly uplifting each other and encouraging each other was a key factor.”
Rebounding from early scares
Illinois entered singles with a 1-0 lead thanks to Xu and Martinez, but Northwestern responded quickly. The Wildcats won the first set in four of six singles matches as part of their effort to get back into the match. However, Northwestern only capitalized on one of its four early leads as No. 111 Martinez, Madatali and senior Kida Ferrari all forced a third set.
The Illini were also dangerously close to dropping more than four first sets, as No. 109 junior McKenna Schaefbauer (7-6(2)) and Heuser (7-6(4)) came out on top of first-set tiebreakers. However, both matches were less contested in the second set, and Illinois’ top two singles players moved it within one point of victory (3-1).
The pressure was on for an Illini to deliver, and surprisingly, the call was answered by Illinois’ only freshman. After dropping her first set 6-2, Madatali completely flipped the script with a 6-2 win of her own. This momentum continued into the final set, where Madatali posted another impressive 6-2 victory to clinch the dual match at 4-2 (2-6, 6-2, 6-2).
“(Madatali)’s shown it to us this fall,” said head coach Evan Clark. “We’ve seen it in the recruiting trail (as well). But to do what she did today was pretty gutsy and pretty incredible for a freshman in a big situation. She got a little bit tight there at the end, but she got through it, and (I) couldn’t be more proud of her. It’s going to be really fun to see what she does the rest of the year.”
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