After a busy weekend on the road, the Illinois women’s tennis team learned a lot about the true meaning of its name – the Fighting Illini.

Taking a brutal beating, 7-0, at the hands of the 10th-ranked Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday in Evanston, Ill., the Illini came back Sunday to hand the Wisconsin Badgers their seventh Big Ten loss of the year in a 4-3 rally.

After dropping the doubles point to the Badgers, wins at the two-through-five singles spots successfully gave the Fighting Illini their first conference win of the season.

“I am really excited about getting our first Big Ten victory today,” head coach Michelle Dasso said. “It was not a positive to lose the doubles point, but it was a great sign of our team’s determination as the girls showed they could come back in singles.”

The talented tandem of junior Momei Qu and freshman Kristina Minor quickly blanked the Badger’s No. 3 doubles duo 8-0 before the remaining Illini doubles partners dropped their sets to Wisconsin.

Heading into the singles portion, the Badgers were up 1-0 and quickly shot to 2-0 as the No.-18 singles player in the country, Caitlin Burke, easily disposed of Illinois freshman Megan Fudge 6-1, 6-0 at the No. 1 singles spot.

It was Qu again who initially put the Illini on the board with a win at the No. 2 singles spot, giving Illinois the much-needed momentum to eventually defeat the Badgers.

Sophomore Shivani Dave, junior Alejandra Meza Cuadra and Minor won their respective singles matches to give the Illini the 4-3 edge.

“This gives us a lot of confidence to know that we have the ability to come back after losing the doubles point,” Dasso said.

The win came at a crucial time as the Illini had been in a Big Ten slump this season. With previous opponents including Purdue and Michigan State, Northwestern was in a league of their own during the match on Saturday, when the Illini were blanked by the Wildcats in every match. Northwestern and its trio of nationally ranked athletes did not allow any Illini singles player to capture a set. Still the fight of the Illini never ceased as they battled through the match.

“I was really proud of our underclassmen and thought they fought hard today,” Dasso said. “They showed a lot of heart and were able to stay competitive in their matches. When you play a top-10 team like Northwestern, that kind of effort is very promising.”

The Illini will have a week off from practices this week before a busy Easter weekend. Currently 5-10 on the season and 1-4 in conference play, Illinois hopes to use its weekend opponents of Penn State and Michigan to increase its Big Ten standing.