Feb. 19, 2015
| #26 Northwestern (6-4) at #6 Illinois (8-2) |
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| Date | Friday, Feb. 20 | 6 p.m. |
| Location | Atkins Tennis Center | Urbana, Ill. |
| Live Scoring | FightingIllini.com |
| #26 Northwestern (6-4) at #64 Cornell (3-4) |
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| Date | Sunday, Feb. 22 | 10 a.m. |
| Location | Reis Tennis Center | Ithaca, N.Y. |
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After a weekend off, No. 26 Northwestern starts Big Ten competition this Friday with a trip to in-state rival No. 6 Illinois. The match is set for 6 p.m. The Wildcats then venture to No. 64 Cornell for a 10 a.m. contest on Sunday.
The `Cats are No. 26 in the nation and have achieved four straight team victories stemming from the beginning of February. In singles, sophomore Strong Kirchheimer climbed to No. 64, and fellow classmate Sam Shropshire broke into the rankings at No. 96.
Kirchheimer looks to continue a three-match winning streak, having won all of his singles contests two weeks ago. Freshman Logan Staggs is on a similar campaign. His 3-0 weekend in singles earlier this month earned him last week's Big Ten Athlete of the Week award.
Illinois is currently 6th in the nation and 8-2 thus far. The Illini competed in the ITA National Indoor Championship last weekend, where they lost 4-2 to then No. 4 Georgia in the quarterfinals. Illinois' only other defeat this season came from Duke, a narrow 4-3 loss.
The Illini have five players in the singles rankings, four of which are in the upper-50. Their top singles athlete is Jared Hiltzik, who checks in at No. 23. Illinois also boasts the No. 11 doubles tandem in Tim Kopinski and Ross Guignon.
Northwestern has opened conference competition against Illinois for the past four years. Last spring in Evanston, Illinois took a 4-1 victory.
No. 64 Cornell has compiled a 3-4 record this season. The Big Red took a close 4-3 loss from Princeton last weekend, and will host Penn State on Friday before NU comes to town. Northwestern is the fourth Big Ten opponent Cornell will face this spring (after Indiana, Iowa, and PSU).
There are currently no ranked singles or doubles players on Cornell's roster. Last year, NU blanked Cornell 4-0 at home.
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