1/31-UI women's tennis falls to No. 5 Stanford

STANFORD, Calif.– The No. 36 Illinois women’s tennis team fell to the No.5 Stanford Cardinal, 6-1, on Saturday, Jan. 31, in the final qualifying match for the ITA Tennis Indoor National Championships. Junior Megan Fudge grabbed the lone Illini victory on the afternoon downing Stanford’s Jessica Nguyen, 7-6 (3), 6-2. “Overall, we had an outstanding experience this weekend getting to play outdoors in gorgeous weather,” Illinois head coach Michelle Dasso said. “It was a treat to play Stanford who’s one of the top teams in the country. In order for us to be the best we have to play those top teams to see where are at. Our girls are going out there and fighting extremely hard and not giving up. We had a couple close matches in singles today and our No. 3 doubles was in control of their entire match. This weekend was definitely a confidence boost for the team and I couldn’t be more proud of the way they played.” With the loss the Illini fall to 2-2 on the season, while the Cardinal improve to 3-0. At No. 1 doubles, the Illini duo of Leigh Finnegan and Megan Fudge started out strong, but couldn’t overcome the No. 41-ranked Cardinal tandem of Hilary Barte and Lindsay Burdette, falling 8-3. The Cardinal took the doubles point with a win at No. 2 doubles, forcing the match at No. 3 doubles to be abandoned with the Illini duo of Amy Allin and Annie McCarthy up 6-5 at the time of finish. At No. 2 singles, Fudge garnered the lone Illini victory. With the win, the Kaarst, Germany, native is now 4-0 in singles so far this season. The Illini return home for a trio of home matches next weekend as they host No. 75 Kansas on Friday, Feb. 6, with match time set for 2 p.m. at the Atkins Tennis Center. The Orange and Blue wrap up the weekend with a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 8 with UIC at 10 a.m., followed by Illinois State at 3 p.m. Livestats and a complete recap for all matches can be found at fightingillini.com. Final Score: #5 Stanford 6 – #36 Illinois 1 Jan. 31, 2009 Doubles 1) #41 Barte/Burdette (STAN) d. Fudge/Finnegan (ILL), 8-3 2) McVeigh/Nguyen (STAN) d. Abajian/Lambropoulos (ILL), 8-2 3) Li/Yen (STAN) vs. Allin/McCarthy (ILL), aban. @ ILL 6-5 OOF: 2, 1, 3 Singles 1) #26 Barte (STAN) d. #89 Finnegan (ILL); 6-2, 6-0 2) Fudge (ILL) d. Nguyen (STAN); 7-6 (3), 6-2 3) #97 Burdette (STAN) d. Lambropoulos (ILL); 6-2, 6-0 4) McVeigh (STAN) d. Abajian (ILL); 6-3, 7-5 5) Clayton (STAN) d. Allin (ILL); 6-0, 6-3* 6) Yen (STAN) d. Minor (ILL); 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 OOF: 1, 3, 5*, 4, 6, 2 *denotes clinching match