University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Illinois
Players Mentioned
Minnesota Falls to Illinois 4-3
2/28/2021 3:48:00 PM | Tennis
Champaign, IL. - The Gophers closed out their first weekend road trip of the season Sunday against Illinois with a 4-3 defeat.
Minnesota (0-5) is still in search of their first victory of the season while Illinois (1-4) picks up their first tally in the victory column.
Doubles Play
The Gophers dropped the doubles point 2-1. Freshman Zeyneb Sarioglan paired up with senior River Hart to earn the only doubles victory of the day for the Maroon & Gold 6-2.
Singles Play
The Illini built on their 1-0 lead by adding two straight set singles victories over River Hart and Dalila Said. Ekin Ercetin got the Gophers on the board with a singles victory over senior Emilee Duong. In the sixth position, Juliet Zhang fell to Josie Frazier to clinch the match victory for Illinois.
The Gophers closed out the final two singles matches with victories to bring the final to 4-3. Lucia de Santa Ana won her third set tiebreaker to pick up her fourth singles victory of the season. Freshman Rachel Hanford got the draw the one position for the second straight match. Hanford continued to be a huge bright spot for the 'U' as she took down #107 ranked Asuka Kawai in three sets.
Notable
Freshman Rachel Hanford picked up the Gophers' first ranked singles win of the season with a three-set victory over #107 ranked Asuka Kawai. She improves her B1G singles record to a team-best 4-1.
Erin Ercetin is 3-1 in her last four singles matches.
Freshman Zeyneb Sarioglan picked up her first career B1G doubles win in her first B1G doubles match.
Minnesota is back in action Friday Mar. 5 at home against Maryland. The match is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. start.
Results
Doubles
1. Josie Frazier/Asuka Kawai (ILL) def. Ekin Ercetin/Rachel Hanford (MINN) 6-4
2. Sasha Belaya/Emilee Duong (ILL) def. Dalila Said/Lucia De Santa Ana (MINN) 6-3
3. River Hart/Zeyneb Sarioglan (MINN) def. Ashley Yeah/Kate Duong (ILL) 6-2
Order of finish: 3,2,1
Singles
1. Rachel Hanford (MINN) def. #107 Asuka Kawai (ILL) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. Ekin Ercetin (MINN) def. Emilee Duong (ILL) 6-4, 6-0
3. Kate Duong (ILL) def. Dalila Said (MINN) 6-3, 6-4
4. Lucia De Santa Ana (MINN) def. Sasha Belaya (ILL) 6-3, 3-6, 11-9
5. Ashley Yeah (ILL) def. River Hart (MINN) 6-2, 6-1
6. Josie Frazier (ILL) def. Juliet Zhang (MINN) 6-4, 6-3
Order of finish: 5,3,2,6,4,1