Amy Andersen proved she deserved to be moved into the NIU women’s tennis team’s line-up this spring, as she defeated her Illinois opponent 7-5, 6-3 at Thursday’s dual meet in Champaign.

But Andersen’s win couldn’t carry the weight of the other eight sedes on the team, all of whom lost their matches, forcing NIU to hand the Illini a 8-1 victory. The team will have a second shot as they remain in Champaign for a 9 a.m. meet against Kansas Friday.

“Amy played really well at number five,” said NIU coach Patty Fick. “We haven’t beaten them (Illinois) for three years. It’s always a close match, even though the match team scores don’t always show it. This just wasn’t our night.”

Although NIU lost eight of its matches, the Huskies had two near wins to push the Illini into three sets—both matches needing tiebreakers.

NIU’s Heidi VanLankvelt at the No. 4 singles sede pressured her opponent into a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6, (7-4) match. The other close score came from NIU’s No. 1 doubles Natacha Kluft-Kris Whitney.

The loss was the first match of the Huskies’ four-game campaign this weekend. Following the Kansas game, the squad will head south for a 9 a.m. challenge against Southern and a 2 p.m. meet against Principia—both in Carbondale.

It will be a first-time experience for both NIU and Kansas, since the teams have never played each other before.

“We’re going to go in just like we would in any other match,” said Fick. “I really don’t know how strong they are.”

Even if the Huskies are unable to defeat Kansas, NIU can still walk away with a split weekend—an accomplishment Fick said she feels strongly about.

“We’ll definitely take two on Saturday,” Fick said.

NIU is known to have close matches with SIU, according to Fick, and this year shouldn’t be any different. The Huskies beat the Salukis 5-4 last year, but Fick said both teams have improved.

“We have to play well,” Fick said, “and we’ll go right through them.”

As for Principia, the match should be a good warm-up for the Huskies against the non-Division I school. Fick said she is expecting the team to be slightly weaker, as any team who is in Division II or III.

While Fick is looking for performances from Andersen this weekend, whom she said is hitting well, the women’s boss is expecting special efforts from both Natacha and Natasha (Koprivica).

“The Natasha’s are hitting well,” Fick said. “We just came off a successful spring break (2-2) and we’re ready to play.”