March 23, 2008

Results

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's tennis team fell to No. 55 Illinois on Sunday afternoon, 4-3, in a highly-contested match at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in East Lansing. The Spartans now stand at 9-6 (1-1 Big Ten) in dual-match play, while Illinois improves to 6-6 (2-0 Big Ten) on the season.

The Fighting Illini came out and took the early 1-0 lead on the Spartans, winning two of three doubles flights. MSU's Stephanie Kebler and Lindsey Lonergan defeated Kristina Minor and Christine Stromberg, 8-5, as they recorded their fifth doubles victory in their last six matches. But Illinois was too strong at the No. 1 and 2 positions, as MSU's Christine Bader and Whitney Wilson fell to Megan Fudge and Shivani Dave, 8-4, while Manon Noe and Ana Milosavljevic lost to Illinois' Leigh Finnegan and Marisa Lambropoulos, 9-7.

In singles action, MSU's No. 1 Bader displayed a dominating performance, making short work of Finnegan, 6-1, 6-1, and knotting the score at 1-1. At No. 2, Noe fell to Fudge, 6-0, 6-4, but MSU's Kebler took down Lambropoulos minutes later, 6-3, 6-2, tying the score again at 2-2. At No. 5, Illinois Momei Qu handed Milosavljevic her first loss in eight matches, taking out the Spartan junior in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. At No. 6, Ally Wickman's comeback bid was cut short, as she was defeated by Illinois' Minor, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, to clinch the match for the Illinois. In the last match of the afternoon, MSU's Lonergan completed her comeback, outlasting Dave in a marathon match, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 4.

"It's always tough to lose a 4-3 match," said MSU head coach Erica Perkins. "Just like our match with Purdue yesterday, the doubles point was tightly contested and when it came down to it, Illinois just wanted it more on the big points. I was happy with how hard some of our players fought in the singles. Christine Bader stepped up and took care of business and Stephanie Kebler played another smart match at No. 3. Tomorrow we will take a day off and look to regroup for Wednesday's match against Washington."

Michigan State continues play on Wednesday, March 26. The Spartans will play host to No. 35 Washington in their last non-conference matchup of the season at 2 p.m. at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility.