Illinois women’s tennis lost a close match to No. 45 Iowa on Sunday in Iowa City, ending their Big Ten-opening road trip with a 4-3 defeat at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex.
The Illini are now 5-7 overall and 1-1 in Big Ten play, while Iowa improved to 8-5 overall and 2-0 in conference matches.
Iowa took the doubles point by winning at No. 2 and No. 1 doubles. Illinois’ No. 3 pair, McKenna Schaefbauer and Kimiko Cooper, secured a 6-4 win, bringing their record as a duo to 3-7 for the season and 1-1 in conference matches.
The Hawkeyes increased their lead by taking singles matches at No. 3 and No. 4 positions, putting them ahead 3-0.
Illinois responded by forcing third sets on the remaining courts. Alice Xu won her match at No. 5 singles with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, improving her singles record to 5-3 this season and marking her first Big Ten victory of the year.
At both No. 2 and No. 6 singles, Illinois claimed victories simultaneously to tie the match at three points each. Cara Mester earned a win at No. 6 singles (2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3)), moving her record to 11-3 overall and maintaining an undefeated record in conference play so far this season.
Kimiko Cooper secured another point for Illinois at No. 2 singles with a three-set win (6-2, 6-7(3), 6-1), improving her dual match record to 5-4 and earning her first Big Ten win.
With the score tied at three apiece, attention shifted to the top court for the final match between McKenna Schaefbauer of Illinois and Mia Mack of Iowa. After coming back from being down in the final set to force a tiebreaker, Schaefbauer lost in a close finish as Iowa clinched the overall victory.
The University of Illinois Fighting Illini Women’s Tennis team participates in NCAA Division I competition within the Big Ten Conference as part of University of Illinois athletics according to their official website. The program is based in Champaign, Illinois.
Next up for Illinois is a home match against Bradley on Wednesday, March 11 at Atkins Tennis Center starting at 4 p.m. CT.
