Tallahassee, FL – The 18th-ranked FSU women’s tennis advanced to the winner’s bracket at the ITA Kickoff Weekend regional in Tallahassee Saturday afternoon. The Seminoles defeated Illinois 4-3 and will now face the winner of No. 19 Florida and FIU Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The win moved FSU to a perfect 3-0 on the season. Starting down 1-0 in doubles for the third straight dual match due to player availability, FSU once again did what it needed to do to take the point and jump out to a 1-0 lead. Vic Allen and Kianah Motosono came off first on court two with a 6-2 victory. With the score even, it was up to Petra Hule and Lesedi Jacobs to put the Noles in the lead. The pair improved to 3-0 as a team with a 6-4 win on court one to take the point. “The team did such a mature job in doubles to start the match and came out on fire,” said FSU Head Coach Jen Hyde. “We got some big leads on courts one and two and to have to forfeit three is an added pressure but they handled it really well again. Being able to get it back to 1-1 heading into singles was critical.” FSU entered singles tied at 1-1 after having to give up a point at line six. Hule came off first putting the Seminoles up 2-0. The 6-4, 7-5 win moved the senior to 3-0 in duals this season. Allen moved FSU to within a point of the win as she won in straight sets on court four 7-6 (8-6), 7-5. Illinois then pushed FSU to third sets on the last three courts and eventually evened the match at 3-3 but senior transfer Kianah Motosono recorded the walk-off win taking her match 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. “We had some stellar performances from a couple today and some other performances we have to get better but what’s great is we get to come back out tomorrow and work on that,” said Hyde. “The fight was good given where we are in the season. We have to continue to grow, we have to continue to get better, we have to continue to take advantage of the opportunities we have and we will. It’s just a matter of hitting our stride and we’re getting there slowly. This is a heck of a start against a really good and competitive Illinois team. “We said at the end of the week there will be no excuses. No matter how many we have, we have the group to get it done. Kudos to Vic for stepping in after just getting notice she was going to play singles last night. She stepped up and took care of things in two sets. It was a tremendous effort on her part. Petra was solid at the one spot. She went through some demons in the second set and was so poised and mature when it mattered most and Kianah at the bottom. Both girls were getting after it and cramping as she was just a little bit tougher today. That made a huge difference and it’s great that she was able to get her first clinch as a Nole.” The Seminoles are back in action Sunday as the ITA Kickoff Weekend continues. FSU will play either Florida or FIU Sunday at 2:00. The location of the match is expected to be at the Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center unless there is a change in the forecast for Sunday’s temperatures. For the most up-to-date information on the Seminole Women’s Tennis program, please follow us on social at FSUWTennis (IG) and @FSU_WTennis (TW) and log on to Seminoles.com.