For five straight weeks of Big Ten play, No. 42 Illinois (14-11, 8-5) split its pair of weekend matches. However, the Illini finally broke out of their cycle and won three straight matches to close out the regular season.
Last weekend, Illinois swept Indiana (8-15, 2-11) and No. 68 Purdue (11-9, 5-8) without surrendering a point. The new 12-team Big Ten tournament is up next for Illinois, followed by a potential invitation to the NCAA tournament.
Illinois started its weekend by taking the doubles point. On top of 6-3 wins on courts two and three, Illinois also led 5-3 on court one. This success bled into singles, as junior Violeta Martinez and freshman Ariel Madatali secured straight set victories to put Illinois up 3-0.
Its progress stalled after that, with all four remaining matches going to three sets. However, senior Kasia Treiber came through with the clinching win against the Hoosiers.
“We went into it knowing that Indiana is a good team,” Treiber said. “They don’t have the best record in the Big Ten but at this point in the season, you can’t take any match lightly. I had a pretty tough match, (going to a) third set and I knew I had to get it done because a lot of our other courts were in the third set as well. I just played my game, the game I know how to play, and it just fell in my favor.”
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Two days later, the Illini were opposite the Boilermakers to end the regular season. Riding its two-match win streak, Illinois also got a bit stronger thanks to the return of senior Megan Heuser. The Illini’s usual No. 2 singles player missed their match on Friday due to an ankle injury. Despite this, Heuser quickly reasserted herself with a straight-set victory that put Illinois up 2-0.
“I twisted my ankle earlier in the week, that’s why I sat out on Friday,” Heuser said. “So on Sunday I was like, ‘I’ve really got to find a way to make these points short.’ I was able to effectively do that and come out on top, which I am super grateful for. To be able to only lose three games … that’s definitely really good for my body. Especially going into a long week of Big Tens.”
The rest of the team was not far behind. Treiber and junior McKenna Schaefbauer picked up straight set wins of their own to secure a 4-0 win. Although neither of her singles matches finished this weekend, senior Kida Ferrari took advantage of the extra experience.
“The biggest takeaway was definitely going for it in big points,” Ferrari said. “There were a lot of deuce points in both of those matches that I could have converted my way, but I didn’t go for it enough or I wasn’t brave enough in those points. From a team standpoint, just staying out there and not having a loose point on the board for the other team is such a huge deal as well. It’s just a big deal to be out there with my teammates, doing the best I can for them.”
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