A 1-1 road trip to end the regular season secured No. 38 Illinois women’s tennis a fifth-place conference finish last weekend. Illinois received one bye in the Big Ten tournament as a result and was matched up against the winner of Rutgers and Michigan State, who finished 12th and 13th, respectively.
The Scarlet Knights ultimately came out on top of a tightly contested 4-3 match that saw junior Minchae Kim clinch the victory in three sets on court five.
Illinois and Rutgers met in Champaign during the regular season at a time when Rutgers was hanging around the national rankings at No. 75. Prior to that weekend, the Scarlet Knights were riding high at 9-3 overall, but losses at Northwestern (4-0) and Illinois (4-2) kicked off a 3-9 finish to the year.
Round two started off in a similar fashion to round one, with Illinois gaining an early lead via the doubles point. No. 83 senior Kate Duong and Megan Heuser made quick work of their opponents on court one (6-2) before junior Kasia Treiber and sophomore McKenna Schaefbauer sealed the deal on court three (6-3).
Heading into singles, Treiber was the first to finish and added another point for the Illini in straight sets (6-2, 7-5). Rutgers got on the board with the close of the next match, rallying from a one-sided 6-2 first set to eventually triumph in three sets (2-6, 6-1, 6-3), but that ended up being the only point it saw all day.
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Fifth-year Josie Frazier wrapped up a straight-set win on court four soon after (6-2, 7-5), which moved the Illini within one point of victory. All three remaining matches were trending in Illinois’ favor, with sophomore Violeta Martinez (7-5, 5-5) and junior Kida Ferrari (6-4, 6-6) leading on courts three and five, but it was ultimately Schaefbauer who clinched the match. Rutgers had rallied to force a third set after Schaefbauer jumped out to a 6-4 advantage, but she maintained her composure to pull out a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory.
Martinez and Ferrari’s matches went unfinished at 7-5, 5-5 and 6-4, 6-7 (5) respectively.
The win moved Illinois to its 16th straight quarterfinal appearance in the Big Ten tournament and matched it up against No. 33 Wisconsin, who finished fourth in the conference. It was the Badgers’ first match of the tournament as the top four seeds got double byes.
Much like the previous match, Illinois and Wisconsin met in the regular season but with very different results. The first time around, the Illini took the doubles point but only secured one singles match en route to a 4-2 defeat.
Treiber and Schaefbauer (6-1) tied the race for the doubles point for Illinois after it suffered a loss on court two (6-1), which moved focus to court one. The two sides were as evenly matched as they come according to the rankings, with Wisconsin’s top duo sitting at No. 82 compared to Duong and Heuser’s No. 83, but Illinois ultimately entered singles trailing 1-0.
Singles play was not kind to the Illini either, with Treiber being the lone member to pick up a victory (6-2, 6-3) in an eventual 4-1 loss.
Illinois now awaits the results of the NCAA tournament selection show, which will be livestreamed via NCAA.com on Monday at 5:30 p.m. CDT. Selections for the individual singles and doubles brackets will be posted on Tuesday at NCAA.com.
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