Jan. 17, 2000

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Sophomore Royce Ramey saved match point against him to advance to the semifinals at the Big Ten Championship in East Lansing, Mich. on Sunday.

The championship's No. 14 seed, Ramey eased through the first three rounds, opening Sunday's action with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Martin Michalowski of Minnesota 6-2, 6-0. In the quarterfinals, Ramey faced Henry Beam of Michigan, who defeated Illinois' Nathan Zeder 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in the round of 16. Ramey lost the opening set 6-2 but bounced back to take the second 6-4. Fighting off match point at 5-4 in the third set, Ramey won in a tiebreaker 7-6 (4). He faces Michigan's Matt Wright at 8:30 a.m. on Monday. Wright closed out junior Graydon Oliver in the quarters.

Two other Illini remain alive in the tournament as sophomore Mike Kosta has reached the semifinals of the main draw's consolation bracket and freshman Alex Hobson advanced to the finals of the No.7 and No. 8 consolation draw. After losing his first match of the tournament, Kosta has strung together four wins. Kosta got to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Laith Al-Agba of Purdue. He then disposed of Minesota' Thomas Haug 6-4, 6-1 in the quarters. Hobson, a University High School product, will take on Ohio State's Vincent Ng Monday after defeating Jason Chen of Michigan State in the quarters and Ohio State's Matt Wooster 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in the semifinals.

With Ramey and Oliver, Illinois put six netters in the round of 16. Sophomore Jamal Parker lost to No. 1 -seeded Tyler Cleveland of Iowa 7-6, 6-2. Senior Matt Snyder fell to Purdue's Jason Marshall, the tournament's fourth seed, 6-1, 6-2. Sophomore Ben Schreiber was defeated by Michigan's Brad McFarlane 6-3, 6-1.