Illinois women’s tennis will take on two teams from Indiana this weekend at the Atkins Tennis Center: the Indiana Hoosiers and the No. 58 Purdue Boilermakers. The Illini are headed into their final two home matches of the season ranked No. 35 with a 13-7 record overall.

Illinois will kick off the weekend on Friday against Indiana, who are 6-16 this season, including 0-7 in road matches. They are also currently on a nine-match losing streak and ranked last in the Big Ten conference standings. The last time the two programs met was in 2021, and the Illini emerged victorious. Under head coach Evan Clark, Illinois has an overall 4-1 record against the Hoosiers.

Following a break on Saturday, fellow Indiana school Purdue will take on Illinois for senior day on Sunday. The Illini look to extend their unbeaten record under Clark to 10-0 with a win against the Boilermakers and increase their standing within the Big Ten before the conference tournament in a couple of weeks.

“I think we’ve realized this year in the Big Ten everyone’s really good,” Clark said. “There’s no easy matches. We feel like we’re in a really good space though in general over the last couple matches. We’re happy we’re home. I think it’s really tough to win on the road anymore in the Big Ten.”

Two of the Illini’s starters, sophomore Violeta Martinez and senior All-American Kate Duong have been out with injuries. Martinez has missed the last seven matches since injuring her hip, while Duong has been out for a much longer period with a foot injury. She hasn’t taken the court since a January 20 match against Duke. With only four matches remaining before the Big Ten tournament, Clark is still optimistic that both players will return to the court this season, potentially this weekend.

“Yeah, they’re progressing well, so we expect to see them in some capacity over the next couple matches,” Clark said. “They’re getting healthy, which is great. They’ll have a shot to play moving forward, so hopefully you’ll see them in.”

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