MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Fighting Illini women’s tennis closed the 75th Annual Blue Gray Tennis Classic with a third-place finish after earning wins over Alabama and Arizona from Montgomery, Ala. With the 2-1 weekend, No. 32 Illinois climbed to an 8-4 record on the season.
Kida Ferrari delivered a 3-0 weekend on the singles courts while No. 31-ranked Kate Duong and Megan Heuser went 2-0 in doubles (doubles not played against Alabama).
Illinois opened the day by finishing its dual against No. 38 Wake Forest after playing doubles on Friday. Ferrari evened the match at 1-1 with a 6-2, 6-0 victory. The Demon Deacons would win the next three singles decisions on courts 2, 5 and 3 to clinch the match at 4-1.
The loss to Wake Forest snapped a five-match winning streak for the Illini. All four of UI’s losses this season have come to an ACC opponent. Wake Forest would ultimately win the title at the Blue Gray Classic.
The Fighting Illini closed the weekend outing with a come-from-behind win over No. 31 Arizona, 4-3.
Illinois clinched the doubles point thanks to wins at No. 1 and No. 3 over the Wildcats. Duong and Heuser took down their Arizona counterparts 6-2 while Ashley Yeah and Violeta Martinez won 6-4.
Arizona claimed the first two singles decisions to go up 2-1 in the third-place match. Those victories came in straight sets on the top two courts.
From there, Kasia Treiber evened the match with a straight-set win at No. 4 singles. After dropping the opening frame, Ferrari battled back with a pair of 6-1 wins to give Illinois a 3-2 lead. Arizona knotted the match one more time at 3-3 with a win at No….
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