CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois women’s tennis team will compete at its fourth tournament of the fall as the entire Fighting Illini squad heads to Columbus, Ohio, for the ITA Midwest Regional Championship. All eight Illinois student-athletes will take part in both singles and doubles play across five days of action, which is slated to begin on Thursday.
Singles qualifying action will start on Thursday, with Ariel Madatali and Rosie Seccia set to represent the Orange and Blue in the qualifying draw. The main draw for both singles and doubles competition will begin on Friday, with the Illini’s remaining six student-athletes set to compete in singles action and all eight Illinois representatives ready to compete in the doubles bracket.
The Illini’s No. 9-ranked duo of Megan Heuser/Alice Xu will team up once again after securing two ranked victories at the ITA All-American Championships at the end of September. Heuser and Xu defeated No. 13 Sara Ziodata/Margaret Navarro of Virginia and No. 4 Luciana Perry/Sydni Ratliff of Ohio State during their time in Cary, N.C., on Sept. 26 and 27.
Illinois will also be represented by the doubles duos of McKenna Schaefbauer/Kasia Treiber, Kida Ferrari/Violeta Martinez, and Ariel Madatali/Rosie Seccia. Ferrari and Martinez are coming off a 2-0 weekend as a partnership at the Notre Dame Invite, at which the Illini tandem picked up wins against teams from Tulane and Ohio State. Madatali and Seccia also posted two victories at the Notre Dame Invite over opponents representing Tulane and Columbia. Schaefbauer and Treiber will look to record their first triumphs as a doubles team this season after going 10-3 overall and 8-2 in Big Ten play last year.
In singles action, Martinez enters the tournament following an unblemished 3-0 mark at the Notre Dame Invite. The Florida native tallied wins against Tulane’s Campbell Ricci, Michigan’s Jessica Bernales, and Columbia’s Amber Yin last weekend.
Schaefbauer and Madatali each picked up two victories at the Notre Dame Invite, with Schaefbauer posting a three-set ranked triumph over No. 125 Gayathri Krishnan of Columbia. Trieber, Seccia, and Xu all secured one singles win during their time in South Bend, Ind.
The ITA Midwest Regional is one of…
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