CHAMPAIGN – The pressure was on for Sarah Schmidt on Sunday. Heading into the final floor routine, the Illini senior needed to score better than 9.825 to give Illinois a victory against Michigan State.

"Sarah knew she needed a pretty good score, and she came through an impressive performance," Illini coach Bob Starkell said after Schmidt posted a 9.925 to give Illinois the inaugural Victory Plank trophy with a 195.600-195.500 win. "She didn't crunch the numbers to know how good of a score she needed, but she knew she could do it, and this was a great showing from her."

Schmidt's score, which matched her season high, gave her the floor title.

Allison Buckley won the all-around; Melissa Fernandez and Schmidt tied for the individual titles in the vault and uneven bars.

"We performed well overall but still have room for improvement," Starkell said of his 20th-ranked team. "Vault was very impressive today, and we were getting a little bit cleaner on our events."

In men's tennis:

Illini close on high note. Dennis Nevolo, Johnny Hamui, Marek Czerwinski and Abe Souza picked up singles wins to lift the No. 13 Illini past No. 30 Fresno State 4-2 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va.

The Illini (4-4) rallied after dropping the doubles point.

"Overall, I'm really happy and proud of the way we bounced back," coach Brad Dancer said. "Marek and Abe have been great leaders and it's an added bonus that it shows through in their results. Dennis and Johnny have struggled a bit, but they haven't let it affect their attitudes and were able to come up big for us today."

In softball:

Illini claim tourney title. Kelley Wedel hit a grand slam, and the Illini blanked their third opponent on the weekend en route to a 10-0 victory against Kent State in the finale of the UNLV Sportco Kick-Off Classic.

Illinois finished the weekend 5-0 – outscoring its opponents 43-6 – to claim the tournament championship.

Freshmen pitchers Pepper Gay (five hits in five innings) and Jackie Guy (one hit in two innings) combined for the shutout.

"Pepper and Jackie teamed up for a great shutout," coach Terri Sullivan said. "We had watched Kent State play a couple games and saw them score quite a few runs. They're aggressive at the plate and a team that keeps fighting when they're down. On offense, we had discussed that across the board we had to get our timing down, so I'm pleased we were able to make some adjustments to pitchers. Our hitters are showing that they understand the game."

Hope Howell had two RBI for the Illini (5-0).