The Illinois women’s tennis team finished the 2012-13 with a 14-11 overall record, including a 6-5 Big Ten mark. Despite missing the NCAA tournament, the Illini’s season still certainly had bright spots.
Senior Rachael White and sophomore Melissa Kopinski qualified for the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid as a doubles tandem. The Kopinski and White duo racked up 12 doubles wins in the 2012 fall season and qualified for the USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. They carried their momentum into the spring, where White and Kopinski reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament before falling to the Southern California tandem of Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria. The tournament run earned White and Kopinski a No. 15 national ranking to finish the season with an overall doubles record of 28-13.
“I think their tournament run was the highlight of our year,” head coach Michelle Dasso said.
The Illini earned some major individual honors as well. For their doubles efforts, White and Kopinski were named NCAA All-Americans. Junior Allison Falkin earned first-team All-Big Ten honors.
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After failing to qualify as a team for the NCAA tournament hosted at Illinois, the team focused on preparing for the upcoming individual tournaments in the fall.
“They played in a couple of tournaments, took care of their bodies, and continued to train,” Dasso said of the team’s summer activities.
With the departure of White and fellow senior Breanne Smutko, Dasso brought in a recruiting class of three freshmen to help compensate for the loss. Louise Kwong, Jerricka Boone and Alexis Casati will join the Illini in the fall.
“We’ll see how the freshmen adjust,” Dasso said. “I think we have very good leadership on our team across the board.”
The team will also look for leadership from upcoming senior class of Falkin and Misia Kedzierski.
What to watch for
The fall season will feature several individual tournaments that will help the players gear up for team play in the spring. The Illini will open the fall season on Sept. 27 in West Point, N.Y., at the West Point Invitational, where Kopinski and Falkin will look to stay atop the team’s lineup. Dasso said she is eager to get off to a strong start in the nonconference and Big Ten in order to be in good standings when the spring season rolls around.
“We kick off hard,” Dasso said. “Once it starts in January, it doesn’t stop.”
For the spring season, Dasso is hopeful that lessons learned from last season will help guide her team toward a berth in the NCAA Championships.
“(Missing the tournament) was definitely a motivating factor for us,” Dasso said. ‘We’re not going to take anyone lightly and we don’t want to be in that situation again.”
Alex can be reached at [email protected] and @aroux94.
