CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 38-ranked Illinois women’s tennis team opens the 2024 postseason on Thursday morning in the Big Ten Tournament hosted by Michigan. The Orange and Blue will face the winner of No. 12 seed Rutgers and No. 13 seed Michigan State on Thursday at 9 a.m. CT from the Varcity Tennis Center.
Rutgers enters the tournament with an 11-11 overall record, including a 2-9 mark in conference play. The Scarlet Knights have yet to play a neutral match this season.
Michigan State enters the tournament with a 10-15 overall record and an 1-10 reading in Big Ten action. The Spartans are 1-1 in neutral matches this season.
No. 38 Illinois is 16-8 on the season, including an 8-3 record in Big Ten play.
LAST TIME OUT
To close the final weekend of the regular season, Illinois earned a hard-fought 4-1 win at Penn State to open the weekend. The Fighting Illini earned their 14th doubles point of the season and then McKenna Schaefbauer, Josie Frazier, and Kasia Treiber earned singles victories.
At No. 15 Ohio State, the Buckeyes won the doubles point and would go up 3-0 before Illinois got on the board. From there, Alice Xu and Kasia Treiber earned singles victories before OSU won by the final 4-2 margin. UI was the first team in a month to tally two points over Ohio State.
ILLINI VS. THE FIELD
Illinois is 9-0 all-time against Rutgers, including 7-0 under head coach Evan Clark.
Illinois holds the edge over Michigan State in the all-time series, 38-13. Under head coach Evan Clark, Illinois is 7-1 against the Spartans.
ILLINI NOTES
- On April 24, Megan Heuser was recognized as a Big Ten All-Conference athlete – the first honor of the sort of her career.
- Alice Xu was tabbed a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree by the league office.
- After receiving votes in the final two top-25 polls, Illinois moved up to No. 24 in the first computerized rankings of the season. The ranking was the best by the Illini since the 2019 campaign.
- The Illini now sit at No. 38 with a 16-8 record.
- On Feb. 21, Kasia Treiber was tabbed the Big Ten Women’s Tennis Player of the Week – the first honor of her career. Treiber posted a 2-0 weekend at No. 3 singles in the Fighting Illini’s wins over Brown and Marshall at Atkins Tennis Center. Both were straight-set victories.
- Illinois finished with an…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at University of Illinois Athletics…