Last weekend was the final time fifth-year Josie Frazier and senior Kate Duong suited up for No. 35 Illinois women’s tennis (15-7) at Atkins Tennis Center. It was Duong’s first bit of action since sustaining an injury in late January and she picked up a pair of doubles wins alongside freshman Alice Xu (7-5) and junior Megan Heuser (6-2). Conversely, Frazier dropped a pair of doubles matches, was leading in an unfinished singles match (6-3, 1-2) and had the clinching singles win on senior day (7-5, 6-2).
Their final matches for Illinois are still in front of them, however, as the team is set to close their regular season at Penn State (5-14) and No. 15 Ohio State (15-6) this weekend. First serve will be at 2 p.m. on Friday against the Nittany Lions while action will begin at 11 a.m. start on Sunday against the Buckeyes.
Although the Illini have already locked up an impressive 11-1 record at home, it’s their 7-2 mark in conference that matters moving forward. No. 2 Michigan (9-0), No. 34 Northwestern (8-1), Ohio State (8-1) and Wisconsin (7-2) currently sit in front of Illinois and jumping into the top four to secure a double-bye in the Big Ten tournament would be a huge advantage.
Ohio State also hosts Northwestern this weekend, meaning that an Illinois win and an Ohio State loss on Friday would make Sunday’s match for one of the top four spots. Regardless, it will be a tough outing for the Illini, who are 1-5 against the Buckeyes under head coach Evan Clark.
The Illini enter their final matches with two ranked doubles pairings that share a common factor: Heuser. Despite not playing last weekend, No. 73 Heuser/Xu maintained a spot in the rankings after being at No. 68 in the previous poll. On the other hand, No. 72 Duong/Heuser re-entered the standings after playing their first match of the spring on Sunday.
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The All-American duo picked up right where they left off and dominated on court one, winning five consecutive games to take an eventual 6-2 victory. Despite Purdue winning on courts two and three to take the doubles point, Clark said that it was good to see his top duo again.
“It’s pretty incredible,” Clark said. “They’ve been through it all so they’re very comfortable with each other. For them to step in and win at (court) one … it was huge. We’ve been so pleased with (court) two and three these last several weeks and felt really comfortable with them. It was great to see them out there again.”
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