Kwong named Big Ten Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week
Illinois' Louise Kwong gets ready to return the ball during the match against Nebraska at the Atkin's Tennis Center on Sunday, April 3.
Austin Yattoni
By Gavin Good, Assistant sports editor
Illinois senior Louise Kwong earned the Big Ten Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week honor Tuesday, coming off a 5-0 weekend on the court.
Kwong clinched the Illini's 5-2 win over No. 33 Maryland on Sunday with her defeat of Alexandra Stanova at No. 1 singles. She bounced back from losing the first set 1-6, taking the second set 7-6 (7-5) and went on to take the third set, 6-3. This came after Kwong helped Illinois capture the doubles point, teaming up with sophomore Ines Vias for a 6-2 win over Stanova and Kristina Hovsepyan at No. 1 doubles.
Kwong breezed through her Saturday matches in Illinois' 6-1 rout of Rutgers, partnering with Vias again at the No. 1 doubles slot, knocking off Ksenija Tihomirova and Chloe Lee 6-2 to clinch the doubles point and defeating Mingxiu Du at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-1.
Kwong and Vias took down Vitoria Beiroa and Meagan Monaghan of Southern Illinois at the No. 1 doubles spot, 6-3. Kwong was leading her final match at No. 1 singles, but the Illini had already clinched the four points necessary for the win, so the match went unfinished.
This is the second time this year Kwong has won the award and is the third Illini player to be selected. Senior Alexis Casati took the honor last week.
Illinois will hit the road to Iowa on Friday before continuing to Nebraska, April 2.