May 15, 2000

NCAA Championships - Athens, GA
May 20-28, 2000
No. 4 Illinois (24-3, 13-0 in Big Ten)

First Round - Saturday, May 13
Illinois 4, UMBC 0

Second Round-Sunday, May 14
Illinois 4, Indiana 2

On Serve: For the fourth consecutive year, the University of Illinois men's tennis team earned the Big Ten Conference regular season title by going a perfect 10-0 in league action. Winners of their last 19 matches, the Fighting Illini captured their fourth straight tournament title at the Big Ten Conference Championships, which were played April 27-30 in Bloomington, IN. Garnering the top seed, Illinois had a bye in the first round, and played Michigan State on Friday, taking that match 4-0. In the semifinals, the Illini edged Michigan, 4-3, to advance to the finals. On April 30, the Illinois men cruised to the Big Ten title, defeating Minnesota 4-1.

Big Ten Champions: Illinois is the owner of the last four Big Ten Conference regular season crowns and tournament titles. Until 1998, the conference champion was determined by the season-ending tournament before the league coaches voted to honor both a regular season and a tournament champion. The Illini clinched this year's regular season title in a 7-0 victory over Iowa on April 22. The Orange and Blue then concluded the regular season with a 6-1 win against Wisconsin, improving to 10-0 in conference play. Illinois is the first Big Ten school ever to claim four consecutive conference and regular season titles. The last conference team to win four consecutive championships was Minnesota (1992-95).

Big Ten Streaks: On the strength of a pair of 13-0 seasons and a 10-0 conference record this season, Illinois has won 45 consecutive conference matches, which is the second-longest streak in the Big Ten. Michigan owns the longest streak with 49 matches from 1971-76. The last conference loss for the Illini was in 1997 when they fell 4-3 to Indiana. Last year, the Fighting Illini outscored Big Ten foes, 68-14. This season, Illinois outscored its conference opponents, 64-15.

Head Coach Craig Tiley: In seven short seasons, Head Coach Craig Tiley has built the University of Illinois tennis program into a national powerhouse and a perennial favorite in the Big Ten. Going from no conference wins the year before he inherited the program, Tiley has guided Illinois to four straight conference titles and advanced to the finals of the ITA National Indoor Championships in two of the last three seasons, a first for any Big Ten school. Last season, Tiley became the fastest Illinois coach to 100 wins. He is currently 130-57 and is second to Howard Braun, who won 183 matches in 24 years at Illinois. While taking Tiley only six years to reach the century mark in wins, Braun achieved 100 wins in his 15th year.

Regarded as one of top professionals throughout the international tennis community, Tiley serves as the Davis Cup captain for his native South Africa. Honored as the National Coach of the Year in 1999, Tiley is a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year and three-time Region IV Coach of the Year. This season, Tiley was presented the Jim Verdieck Coach of the Year award by the United States Professional Tennis Registry.

Senior Cary Franklin: Without question, Cary Franklin will go down as one of the best Illini netters in history. The No. 13 player in the country surpassed 100 career singles wins this season and is currently fourth all-time with a record of 114-46. With a mark of 101-38, the senior is third on the all-time doubles list. Franklin recently joined Oliver Freelove as one of only two Illini to top 100 wins in both singles and doubles. Franklin is a four-time All-Big Ten selection, two-time Academic All-Big Ten and two-time UI George Huff Academic Award winner.

Capping off a stellar senior year, Franklin produced a Big Ten mark of 11-2 and a dual match record of 23-3. Pairing with junior Graydon Oliver, the tandem is currently ranked 25th in the country. Playing at Nos. 1 and 2, Franklin and Oliver are 26-9 overall and 21-4 in dual matches.

The native of Atlanta, Ga., was a two-time Big Ten Athlete of the Week. Franklin guided the Illini to a co-championship at the Blue Gray Classic, in which he was selected as the tournament's Most Valuable Player. The All-American knocked off No. 2 Alex Kim of Stanford at Nationals Indoors and was a quarterfinalist at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic.

Moving On Up: The Illini have been busy climbing up in the school record books. Becoming the sixth player in school history to amass 100 career singles wins, senior Cary Franklin moved into fourth all-time with a record of 114-46. With a career record of 101-38 in doubles, Franklin became the second Illinois player in school history to have 100 wins in both singles and doubles. He and junior Graydon Oliver have compiled a mark of 26-8 and the duo ranks fifth on the list of doubles wins in a single season.

Fellow senior Jeff Laski followed Franklin's lead and became the seventh Illini to the century mark, and the third player in school history to collect 100 wins in both singles and doubles. He is currently 105-50, good for seventh in all-time career singles wins. The ITA Regional Doubles Champion, Laski recently became the leader in career doubles wins. He has a record of 118-41 in doubles, which surpasses the previous title holder, Oliver Freelove, by three wins. Laski and sophomore Jamal Parker are in second place on the "Most Doubles Wins- Season" list.

Last year, Oliver Freelove (37-16) and Franklin (35-10) finished second and third, respectively, in singles wins in a season. This year, sophomore Mike Kosta is trying to catch them with a record of 35-10, which ranks fourth, and is just two wins away from a tie for second place.

Transferring from Alabama, Oliver has made an immediate impact for Illinois. With a record of 30-7, this season the junior had an 18 match winning streak, which is the most consecutive wins ever in Illini history. With his last two wins, Oliver has cracked the top 10 in most singles wins in a season, and is currently in 9th place with a record of 30-7. Oliver also posted an undefeated record in Big Ten singles play this year.

To This Point: Illinois is in the midst of its sixth 20-win season. With a record of 24-3, the Illini once again played one of the toughest schedules in the the country. In the dual match season, Illinois took on nine top 20 teams, posting a record of 6-3. The Fighting Illini started the spring with a 7-0 win over No. 77 Northwestern. In the midst of a four-match winning streak, senior Jeff Laski and sophomore Jamal Parker competed at the Rolex Indoor Championships. The ITA Regional Doubles champions knocked off the No. 2 team of Steve Huss and Tiago Ruffoni of Auburn and advanced to the semifinals.

The Illini headed into the National Indoor Championships with home wins over No. 18 Fresno State, No. 17 Texas A&M and No. 13 Tennessee. At the national tournament, Illinois lost in the first round to No. 2 Stanford 4-3. The Orange and Blue rebounded to defeat the defending NCAA Champion Georgia Bulldogs 5-3. Closing out national indoors with a 4-3 loss to No. 5 Baylor, the Illini were dealt their only back-to-back losses with a 4-3 setback to No. 12 Duke the following week.

Not faltering for the remainder of the season, Illinois bested top regional foe Notre Dame 5-2 on two occasions and shared the championship crown with Fresno State at the Blue Gray Classic, where it downed No. 6 SMU 5-2 in the semifinals. The Fighting Illini defeated No. 36 Kentucky, 4-3, on April 6. In non-conference action, the Illini went 9-3.

Illini Honored: This year several Illini were honored in a variety of ways. Head Coach Craig Tiley was named as the Big Ten Coach of the Year. Associate Head Coach Bruce Berque was tabbed as Region IV's Assistant Coach of the Year. Cary Franklin shared ITA Region IV's Co-Senior Player of the Year award with Notre Dame's Ryan Sachire, and also won the MVP title at the Blue-Gray Classic. Graydon Oliver earned the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership award, as well as being named to the All-Big Ten team along with Franklin and Jeff Laski.

Winningest Class In School History: Four-time Big Ten Champions, this year's trio of four-year seniors are the winningest class in school history. Cary Franklin, Jeff Laski and Matt Snyder have manufactured a mark of 93-23, surpassing last year's senior class of Oliver Freelove, Gavin Sontag and Jakub Teply who amassed a record of 81-30. This year's senior class also owns the best winning percentage at .802.

Streaking Season: Illinois is on a 19-match winning streak as it enters Sweet 16 play. The streak marks the most consecutive wins by the Illini om school history. Impressive runs by individual Illini players include the following:

• Cary Franklin has won 15 of his last 17 matches.
• Franklin has gone 11-2 in the Big Ten.
• Mike Kosta has won 18 of his last 21 matches.
• Kosta has gone 12-1 in the Big Ten.
• Graydon Oliver has won 21 of his last 25 matches.
• Oliver had an 18-match winning streak, a new school record.
• Oliver has gone 12-0 in the Big Ten.
• Jeff Laski won 10 out of 12 Big Ten matches.
• Matt Snyder went 6-0 in the Big Ten.
• Franklin/Oliver have won 12 of their last 13 doubles matches.
• Franklin/Oliver went 11-1 in the Big Ten.

Illinois vs. it's quarter of the bracket

(teams in the top 30)

Players in the National rankings
Top 30 Singles
Brian Vahaly- Virginia No. 4
Cary Franklin- Illinois No. 13
Tom Hand- LSU No. 20
Michal Chmela- LSU No. 23
Alex Hartman- Mississippi No. 26
Robert Kendrick- Pepperdine No. 28

Doubles (in the top 30)
Graeff/Ross- Pepperdine No. 7
Chmela/Kiernan- LSU No. 9
Chadha/Shortall- Mississippi No. 18
Laski/Parker- Illinois No. 23
Franklin/Oliver- Illinois No. 25
Montgomery/Vahaly- Virginia No. 26

Illinois Records

Most Singles wins - Career
1. Gavin Sontag (95-99) 120-52
2. Oliver Freelove (95-99) 119-62
3. Jakub Teply (95-99) 117-67
4. Cary Franklin (96-present) 114-46
5. Jerry Turek (93-97) 105-79
6. Mark Long (84-88) 103-78
7. Jeff Laski (96-present) 105-50
8. Neil Adams (81-84) 99-62
9. Hector Ortiz 74-67
10. Peter Bouton 73-45

Most doubles wins - Career
1. Jeff Laski (96-present) 118-41
2. Oliver Freelove (95-99) 115-37
3. Cary Franklin (96-present) 101-38
4. Brady Blain (94-98) 94-56
5. Gavin Sontag (95-99) 91-46
6. Mark Long (84-88) 86-40
7. Jerry Turek (93-97) 85-65
8. Neil Adams (81-84) 84-49
9. Jakub Teply (96-99) 73-29
10. Mike Meyer (82-85) 73-31

Most singles wins - season
1. Gavin Sontag (97-98) 40-11
2. Oliver Freelove (98-99) 37-16
Cary Franklin (98-99) 37-11
4. Mike Kosta (99-00) 35-9
Jakub Teply (98-99) 35-15
6.Jerry Turek (96-97) 32-11
7. Jerry Turek (95-96) 31-15
Gavin Sontag (96-97) 31-18
9. Graydon Oliver (99-00) 30-7
10. David Manpearl (94-95) 30-15
Barry Waddell (80-81) 29-12

Most doubles wins - season
1. Jeff Laski (98-99) 42-12
2. Oliver Freelove (98-99) 38-9
3. Cary Franklin (98-99) 35-10
4. Jakub Teply (98-99) 32-12
5. Peter Bouton (82-83) 31-12
6. Oliver Freelove (96-97) 30-11

Most team doubles wins - season
1. Franklin/Freelove (98-99) 34-9
2. Laski/Parker (99-00) 28-9
Bouton/Meyer (82-83) 28-12
4. Adams/Goodman (83-84) 27-7
5. Franklin/Oliver (99-00) 26-8
Adams/Goodman (82-83) 25-16
7. DeVore/Sontag (95-96) 24-10
Turek/Blain (95-96) 23-13
Turek/Blain (96-97) 23-15
10. Sontag/Laski (96-97) 21-8

BOLD indicates current players