MADISON, Wis. – The No. 21 Wisconsin women's tennis team (15-5) fell to No. 34 Illinois in an extremely close match, 4-3. at Nielsen on Friday.  
 
The Badgers were forced to adapt prior to the start of doubles because of an injury. Xinyu Cai and Alina Mukhortova stepped up to play No. 7 Kate Duong and Megan Houser last minute. Not only did the two hold their own against one of the best doubles teams in the nation, they came out victorious and gave the Badgers their first doubles win. Charmaine Seah and Taylor Cataldi followed that up with a 6-3 win over Josie Frazier and Ashley Yeah to seal the doubles point.
 
In singles, Maria Sholokhova put on an amazing performance against No. 72 Yeah, winning 6-2, 7-5. Ava Markham also managed to put together quite the result, beating Duong 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). Unfortunately, Illinois put up a resilient fight to just barely beat the Badgers 4-3 overall.
 
Wisconsin plays again at Nielsen on Sunday at noon against No. 70 Northwestern.

Illinois 4, Wisconsin 3

Doubles
1. Xinyu Cai/Alina Mukhortova (WIS) def. #7 Kate Duong/Megan Heuser (ILL) 6-4
2. Charmaine Seah/Taylor Cataldi (WIS) def. Josie Frazier/Ashley Yeah (ILL) 6-3
3. Kida Ferrari/Violeta Martinez (ILL) vs. Ariel Johnson/Maria Sholokhova (WIS) 5-4 (Unfinished)
 
Singles against Illinois
1. #50 Ava Markham (WIS) def. Kate Duong (ILL) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
2. #79 Maria Sholokhova (WIS) def. #72 Ashley Yeah (ILL) 6-2, 7-5
3. Megan Heuser (ILL) def. Alina Mukhortova (WIS) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
4. Josie Frazier (ILL) def. Taylor Cataldi (WIS) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
5. Kasia Treiber (ILL) def. #110 Xinyu Cai (WIS) 6-4, 6-3
6. Kida Ferrari (ILL) def. Charmaine Seah (WIS) 6-3, 6-0
 
Order of Finish: Singles (6,5,2,1,3,4), Doubles (2,1)