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The No. 32 Illini host No. 25 Florida State Friday at 3 p.m.
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Feb. 2, 2010
Hey there Illini fans! This week, we are going to update you on our recent adventures on the road for the past two weeks!
We were all very excited to start our spring season with matches against Tennessee and Virginia. But first, we had to endure an eight-hour bus ride to Tennessee with our awesome, very musically talented bus driver, Carol. Luckily, Georgia (Georgia Rose) and Keri (Keri Robison) introduced the show "How I Met Your Mother," which made the ride go by very quickly. Steak sauce!! After listening to many "haaaave you met Ted??" introductions, we finally made it to Tennessee and got a good hit in before we headed to dinner.
That night, Leigh found herself sitting in a 17-minute ice bath, courtesy of Amy. She assumed Amy would tell her when the 10 minutes was over, but Amy decided that she needed a little extra time. We would like to give a shout out to our spectacular trainer, Jenny (JWOWW!), who took care of us for this trip!
The next day was MATCH DAY! We were fortunate enough to have plenty of Illini fans there to support us. They were much louder then the packed Tennessee tennis center, which we are very appreciative of. (Thank you Patty Lambro and the Smutko's). Even Patty Lambropoulos was getting pumped up by doing a workout on Tennessee's fitness equipment before our match! Unfortunately, we lost a close 4-3 decision, but knew we had to re-focus for our match vs. UVA in a day.
After traveling another seven hours to UVA on Saturday and watching another season of "How I Met Your Mother," we were ready to get back on the courts and battle. It was nice to see the familiar faces of the Finnegan's, Amy's relatives, Melanie Abajian and Patty Lambropoulos in the stands cheering us on. Again, we had another 4-3 loss, which we all had plenty of time to think about on the 13-hour drive back to Champaign.
This passed weekend, we headed to National Indoors in Clemson, which is in South Carolina, not Florida. (Yes, Tina (Kristina Minor) thought it was in Florida). Again, we were very fortunate to have the Smutko's, Jimbo Allin and Glenn Abajian come out and support us for the weekend. Oh, and we cannot forget to mention Jared (the Subway guy) too! We also got to see Allison Falkin, our soon-to-be Illini freshman in the fall!
In an attempt to energize Rachael for the big match, she, Amy and Georgia woke up a little early to get a quick jog in. Afterwards, while eating breakfast, Rachael spilled milk all over two of the players from Mississippi. Clearly, the morning jog was not enough! On a high note, the Illini won the doubles point in our match versus Mississippi! Our team fought really hard, but we unfortunately lost, 4-2. It was a disappointing loss but we had no time to sulk, as we had a challenge the next day versus Texas A&M University.
We are proud to say that with the help of the doubles point again, we WON!! It was great to grab our first win against a tough team. Everyone came to battle today and played their hearts out which is exactly what the Illini are about. We even had two wins over ranked players from Bre and Chelcie (aka Bat or Thursday)!! We believe that the win had something to do with the "I" stencils on our racquets that Amy has now perfected. Way to go Little Pig!
After a long weekend, we were so excited to finally go back to Champaign, but first we had to spend six hours in the Greenville airport. After a few naps and some time for homework, we gathered to play a big card game of "golf," which has quickly become our new hobby. Amy was again victorious (as she had been the entire trip) and unfortunately Georgia can't seem to snap her losing streak in golf! Our flights were pretty late at night, and with the help of Bre's endless amount of candy, we were a little hyper on the plane. It was fun for those sitting behind the coaches, even though we are sure they didn't enjoy it. Michelle got the pleasure of having little paper balls thrown at her from all directions. Georgia is terrified of flying so we do anything possible to make her freak out. We sometimes forget that they are the ones who can make us into the track team if we annoy them enough.
Luckily, we made it home safely and boy are we glad to be back in Champaign! Everyone is extremely pumped about our FIRST HOME MATCH vs FLORIDA STATE, FRIDAY at 3pm!! We hope to see all you Illini fans there!
HERE WE GO ILLINI!!
The Women's Tennis Team
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