The Illini showed what they're made of at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Regional Tournament in Kalamazoo, Mich. The Illini had five players compete in the main draw for singles and four teams in doubles — that number represented the most Illinois participants the women's program has ever had.

Four of the five Illini that competed in singles advanced to the second round. Two of the four teams that competed in doubles advanced to the second round. It was the first time in the program's history that two Illini advanced to the final round of sixteen in singles.

Senior Jennifer McGaffigan, who reached the quarterfinals last year, advanced to the semifinals before she lost to one of the best players in the country, tournament winner Christelle Grier of Northwestern. Senior Cynthya Goulet lost to Christian Thompson of Notre Dame in the round of 16. McGaffigan, who won the doubles tournament last year with Michelle Webb, teamed up with Goulet to rack up five tournament victories before losing to the No. 6 ranked team in the nation of Grier and Jessica Rush from Northwestern.

Illini head coach Sujay Lama said that Illinois' performance at Regionals opened a lot of eyes at how good the program had gotten.

"We're probably within the top three teams in the region and up with some of the best in the country," Lama said. "We earned a lot of respect by the way we competed. Now they know when they play Illinois to expect us to compete hard."

Lama said he knew that McGaffigan and Goulet had the potential to be a great doubles team.

"They are an amazing team and their skills complement each other," Lama said. "Jenny is more of a power game, and Cynthya is very consistent, if they continue to work hard, by the end of the year, they'll be the best team in the country."

Freshman standout Isabel Jarosz dropped her first match of the season losing in the first round of the singles main draw to Dora Vastag of Indiana, who went on to advance to the quarterfinals. Lama said that may have been the best thing to happen to her and that he doesn't expect a letdown.

"She has been playing with a lot of added pressure from the streak," Lama said. "In losses you can learn a lot more than if you win; in a loss your weaknesses are exposed and you can improve upon them and become better."

Lama said the opportunity to play some of the best players in the country showed some of the players' weaknesses. He said, as a team, they could improve on their play in doubles and be more aggressive individually.

According to Lama, the Illini have the most important ingredient to become one of the top programs in the country.

"The beauty of this team is that they are so together," Lama said. "They have a lot of fun and push each other to be better."