Sophomores Marcela Brandao and Jill Furlong fell 8-3 at No. 1 doubles while Brandao also dropped a 6-1, 6-4 decision at No. 1 singles. Furlong, playing at the No. 2 position, fell 6-3, 6-2 in singles action.

"Our strongest performance today was by Jill Furlong," said Western Illinois head coach Chris Kane. "Jill battled, and hit a lot of balls in the court, making relatively few unforced errors. That is the formula for a good performance. A few double faults at the wrong time prevented Jill from getting the win."

Juniors Amy Unzicker and Claire Griffin lost 8-1 at No. 2 doubles while senior Melissa Kaufmann and freshman Madison Zimmerman fell 8-0 at the No. 3 spot. In singles play, Unzicker (No. 3) and Kaufmann (No. 5) both dropped 6-0, 6-1 decisions while Griffin fell 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 4 position.

Freshman Kara Chicoine fell in straight sets (6-0, 6-0) at No. 6 singles and Zimmerman competed against NIU freshman Rebecca Hansmann in an exhibition match.

Western Illinois travels to Orlando, Fla. next weekend for its Spring Break trip. The Fighting Leathernecks play Marist on Sunday, March 13 at 2:30 p.m. before concluding the trip with a matchup against Quinnipiac on Monday, March 14 at 3 p.m.

"We are looking forward to our Spring Trip to Orlando," Kane added. "We will play some good competition in Florida, but as importantly, we will play outside and become accustomed to the sun, the wind, all the natural elements, as well as the generally slower speed of outdoor tennis courts. We hope this trip will prepare us well for the upcoming Summit League season."

Northern Illinois 7, Western Illinois 0
March 5, 2011 at Rockford, Ill. (Boylan Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. Kelly Phillips (NIU) def. Marcela Brandao (WIU) - 6-1, 6-4 
2. Martina Schnapp (NIU) def. Jill Furlong (WIU) - 6-3, 6-2
3. Emily Rogers (NIU) def. Amy Unzicker (WIU) - 6-0, 6-1
4. Haley Dekkinga (NIU) def. Claire Griffin (WIU) - 6-1, 6-1
5. Sara McLaughlin (NIU) def. Melissa Kaufmann (WIU) - 6-0, 6-1
6. Ilse Pacheco (NIU) def. Kara Chicoine (WIU) - 6-0, 6-0
(Exh.) Rebecca Hansmann (NIU) def. Madison Zimmerman (WIU) - 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Phillips/Rogers (NIU) def. Brandao/Furlong (WIU) -  8-3
2. Dekkinga/Pacheco (NIU) def. Unzicker/Griffin (WIU) - 8-1
3. McLaughlin/Schnapp (NIU) def. Kaufmann/Zimmerman (WIU) - 8-0