Feb. 3, 2000

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illini duo of senior Jeff Laski and sophomore Jamal Parker moved into the semifinals in dramatic fashion today at the Rolex Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in Dallas, Texas.

Down a set and one game away from elimination, Laski and Parker battled back and grabbed the 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory from Columbia's Salil Seshadri and Akram Zaman in the quarterfinals. After losing the first set, the Illini continued to struggle against Seshadri and Zaman, going down 5-2 in the second set. Ranked No. 21 in the nation, Laski and Parker mounted a comeback and rallied to take the second in a 7-4 tiebreaker. In the third, Illinois outdistanced the Columbia squad to secure the win.

"Jeff and Jamal had a good day today and really fought hard in their quarterfinals match," Head Coach Craig Tiley said. "Overall, they had good performances."

Laski and Parker, the reigning ITA Doubles Champions, advanced to the quarters following their first-round upset of the second-ranked doubles team in the country, defeating Auburn's Steve Huss and Tiago Ruffoni 7-5, 7-6 (2).

"They played great in the first match and stayed consistent throughout," Tiley said. "It was high-quality doubles."

In the semifinals, Laski and Parker will meet the winner of match between Michael Blue and Nick Crowell of Texas and Dumitru Caradima and Shuon Madden of Texas A&M. The other semifinals match will be the winner of the LSU's Michal Chmela and Tom Hand and SMU's Toby Hansson and Jon Wallmark match. Chmela and Hand are ranked fourth in the country.

Laski and Parker are the two representatives for the 10th-ranked Fighting Illini at the indoor championships. The UI tandem started the spring season strongly with an 8-3 win against Northwestern's Brad Erickson and Joost Hol at No.1 doubles, helping Illinois defeat the Wildcats 7-0. Ranked No.1 in the region, Laski and Parker now own a record of 11-2 on the year.