Experience is what Illinois State's Liina Suurvarik and Alesia Mikalayeva will bring home from the State Farm Women's Tennis Classic, after both being defeated during the qualifying rounds.
The classic, held at the Scottsdale Fairmont Princess Hotel, features some of the top-ranked players in the world. No. 1 Jennifer Capriati, No. 4 Martina Hingis, No. 5 Kim Clijsters, No. 6 Serena Williams, No. 9 Jelena Dokic and No. 11 Megan Shaugnessey are all participants in this year's event.
Suurvarik and Mikalayeva have been making quite a name for themselves on the courts this year. Suurvarik, a sophomore from Tallinn, Estonia, is currently ranked No. 107 in singles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association with a record of 21-4. Mikalayeva, a junior hailing from Minsk, Belarus, has a singles mark of 14-7 and pairs with Suurvarik in doubles play. The duo, ranked No. 14 by the ITA, won the ITA Midwest Regional and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Omni Hotels National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship, falling to eventual champions Kalvaria/Lastra of Stanford.
In the qualifying round of the State Farm Women's Tennis Classic, Suurvarik went up against Jill Craydas of the United States and was defeated 6-4, 6-2.
Mikalayeva, who had been on standby for the qualifying round, took on Stephanie Foretz of France, but was beaten 6-0, 6-0.
Though the tournament did not bring either woman success, it did bring them an experience that neither takes for granted.
"I'm still very excited," said Suurvark. "This has been one of the best experiences of my life. It's the goal to compete in tournaments like this one. This is it."
Mikalayeva was affected in very much the same way.
"Hopefully, this isn't the last chance I'll have to compete at this level," said Mikalayeva. "I obviously would've liked to have a win, but it feels good just to be able to compete with these players at this level. We fought hard, and hope we'll be back."
Suurvarik and Mikalayeva will be staying in-state next weekend with the rest of the Redbirds for their second home match versus University of Indiana at the Evergreen Racquet Club on Friday, March 1st.
