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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. \u2013\u00a0Fighting Illini women’s tennis hits the road to open Big Ten play for the 2026 dual campaign. Illinois will visit former associate head coach German Delmagro and the Huskers in Lincoln on Friday for a 5 p.m. CT match before making a stop at Iowa on Sunday for a 12 p.m. match against the Hawkeyes.<\/p>\n Illinois holds a deceptive 4-6 record on the 2026 campaign, with five losses coming to top-25 ranked opposition. The Illini are looking to get a streak going, coming off a 4-0 win over Kansas City on Monday.<\/p>\n Nebraska is off to a 7-2 start on the year and is 5-0 when playing at home this season. Iowa sits at 6-5 overall and is 0-2 in home matches this spring.<\/p>\n Following the weekend contests, Illinois will return home to host Bradley on Wednesday, March 11, at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n
RECORDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Matches 11-12: Illinois (4-6) at Nebraska (7-2) and Iowa (6-5)
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\n\t\t\tMatches 11-12: Illinois (4-6) at Nebraska (7-2) and Iowa (6-5)
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\n\t\t\tLocation
\n\t\t\tLincoln, Neb. \/\/ Iowa City, Iowa
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\n\t\t\tDate & Time
\n\t\t\tFriday, March 6, 5 PM CT \/\/ Sunday, March 8, 12 PM CT
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\n\t\t\tLive Scoring
\n\t\t\tNebraska<\/a> \/\/ Iowa<\/a>
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\n\t\t\tStreams
\n\t\t\tNebraska<\/a> \/\/ Iowa<\/a>
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\n\t\t\tIllinois Team Info
\n\t\t\tRoster<\/a> | Schedule<\/a>
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\nRANKING NOTES
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\n\tIllinois
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\n\t\tTeam Ranking \u2013\u00a0N\/A
\n\t\tSingles Rankings
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\n\t\tDoubles Rankings
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\n\tNebraska
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\n\t\tTeam Ranking \u2013\u00a0N\/A
\n\t\tSingles Rankings
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\n\t\tDoubles Rankings
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\n\tIowa
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\n\t\tTeam Ranking – 35
\n\t\tSingles Rankings
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\n\t\tDoubles Rankings
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\n\t\t\tNo. 25 – Hayashida\/Mack
\n\t\t\tNo. 90 – Hayashida\/Dejnozkova
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\nDOUBLES POINTS
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\n\tJan. 24 vs. Miami (OH) – #2 Schaefbauer\/Cooper and #3 Mester\/Madatali
\n\tFeb. 2 vs. DePaul –\u00a0#2 Schaefbauer\/Cooper and #3 Mester\/Madatali
\n\tMarch 2 vs. Kansas City – #1 Bucher\/Xu and #2 Madatali\/Schaefbauer
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\nCLINCHES
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\n\tJan. 24 vs. Miami (OH) – #1\u00a0McKenna Schaefbauer<\/a>\u00a0– 6-3, 6-4
\n\tFeb. 2 vs. DePaul – #3\u00a0Ariel Madatali<\/a>\u00a0– 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
\n\tFeb. 13 at Iowa State – #5\u00a0Lizzie Isyanov<\/a>\u00a0– 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
\n\tMarch 2 vs. Kansas City – #1 McKenna Schaefbauer<\/a> – 6-3, 6-1
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\nILLINI NOTES
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\n\tFor the first time of her career, Fighting Illini senior\u00a0McKenna Schaefbauer<\/a>\u00a0was named the Big Ten Women’s Tennis Player of the Week, the league office announced follow Illinois’ opening weekend of play. The Normal, Illinois, native produced a 2-0 opening weekend that saw her earn the highest-ranked win of her career with a victory over the No. 40-ranked player in the country.
\n\tMcKenna Schaefbauer<\/a> picked up her second ranked singles win of the season on Feb. 20 when Illinois hosted Wisconsin. The Illini senior earned a straight-set upset of No. 14 Maria Sholokhova at No. 1 singles.
\n\tDuring the preseason, Fighting Illini\u00a0sophomore\u00a0Ariel Madatali<\/a>\u00a0was named to the 2026\u00a0Big Ten Women’s Tennis Players to Watch List. The St. Louis native is headed into her second dual season with the Orange and Blue. Madatali is one of 18 athletes named to the Players to Watch List.
\n\tIllinois’ 2026 slate features at least 11 matches against squads that appeared in the 2025 NCAA Team Tournament.
\n\tThe Fighting Illini faced two top-25 ranked opponents during opening weekend (No. 21 Pepperdine, No. 25 Baylor)\u00a0and followed that up with three more ranked matches while hosting the ITA Team Indoor National Championship (No. 3 North Carolina, No. 7 Duke, No. 12 Vanderbilt).
\n\tFrom Feb. 6-10, the Illini co-hosted the ITA National Indoor Team Championships with Northwestern. As an event host, Illinois was guaranteed three matches in the event and does not have to qualify through ITA Kickoff Weekend. Besides Illinois and Northwestern, the remaining 14 teams qualified by winning two matches at their respective\u00a0ITA Kickoff Weekend sites.
\n\tIllinois added a pair of SEC transfers heading into this season.\u00a0Tess Bucher<\/a>\u00a0(Kentucky) and\u00a0Cara Mester<\/a>\u00a0(Oklahoma) both enter their sophomore seasons at Illinois.
\n\tThe Fighting Illini freshman class ranked No. 14 nationally by Tennis Recruiting Network.\u00a0Risa Ueno<\/a>\u00a0(No. 14),\u00a0Lizzie Isyanov<\/a>\u00a0(No. 37), and\u00a0Kimiko Cooper<\/a>\u00a0(No. 18) make up the 2025-26 newcomers.
\n\tIn the 2026 Tennis Recruiting Network class rankings, Illinois ranked No. 20 overall and third in the Big Ten.\u00a0Evan Clark<\/a>\u00a0has now had back-to-back ranked classes for the first time in his career and\u00a0Evan Clark<\/a>\u00a0has now brought in five\u00a0top-25 recruiting classes overall.
\n\tHead coach\u00a0Evan Clark<\/a>\u00a0is in his 11th year as the head coach of Illinois women’s tennis, holds an overall dual record of 150-106\u00a0(.588), and is 74-36\u00a0(.673) in Big Ten play during his time as an Illini. Including his time as the head coach at UNC-Wilmington, Clark owns a 181-117\u00a0record overall.
\n\tIllinois has made the NCAA Tournament in three-straight\u00a0seasons for the first time under Clark and third time in program history. The 2024-25\u00a0season’s appearance marked\u00a0the fifth with Clark at the helm.
\n\tAcross program history, Illinois has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 16 times and owns a 5-16 all-time record.
\n\tIllinois owns an 83-36\u00a0record when playing at home under\u00a0Evan Clark<\/a>\u00a0(begins 2016 dual season).
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