No more talk about Midwest tennis teams being unable to compete with the nation's best. Illinois squashed that theory at Saturday's ITA National Indoors in Louisville, Ky.

Craig Tiley's team continued its run through the Top 25 with a 4-3 win over No. 4 Mississippi State. The Illini play top-ranked Stanford in today's final. It's the first time in the 25 years of the tournament a Big Ten team has made it that far.

The Illinois men's tennis team went 7-2 Sunday and concluded the Fighting Illini Classic with a 36-7 record, five more than No. 9 Florida.

CHAMPAIGN – When Illinois and Northwestern clashed in Evanston last year, the Illini were greeted by a slew of rowdy fraternity tailgaters.

No big deal if the schools were playing football at Northwestern's Ryan Field.

But they weren't. These Illini and Wildcats met in a bubble, and they were playing ... tennis.

Illinois junior Oliver Freelove, the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Singles Championships, lost to eventual champion Marc Silva of Northwestern Monday in a semifinal match.

   Illinois junior Oliver Freelove and sophomore Jeff Laski advanced Sunday to the semifinals in their flights of the Big Ten Singles Championships in East Lansing, Mich.

   The University of Illinois women''s tennis team, paced by freshman Simone Kung and junior Stacy Schapiro, defeated Illinois-Chicago 8-1 on Monday at Atkins Tennis Center.

Two Illinois tennis duos reached the final four Thursday at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic.

Illinois tennis players Gavin Sontag and Simone Kung advanced to the round of eight Wednesday in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic.