Jan. 21, 2001
Champaign, IL--The No. 8 ranked Fighting Illini men's tennis team started the season right with a 6-1 victory over Ball State today at Atkins Tennis Center. Illinois swept doubles and dropped only one singles match en route to their first win of the season.
In doubles the Illini started slower than Head Coach Craig Tiley would have liked, but eventually pulled off wins at all three positions. At No. 1 doubles, senior Graydon Oliver paired with freshman Philip Stolt to dig out a 9-8(1) victory over Ball State's Edgardo Rivera and Jason Pressel. Freshman Michael Calkins and junior Jamal Parker followed suit in No. 2 doubles, posting an 8-6 score over Michael Westerhof and Chris Varga. The junior Illinois tandem of Nathan Zeder and Mike Kosta completed the doubles rout, downing Andrew Seni and Nick Vizzone 8-5 at No. 3.
"I thought we started off slowly," said Head Coach Craig Tiley. "We were a little rusty in doubles, but then came back and found a way to win. It's great to get your first win of the season in your first match, it helps team confidence. We did what we needed to do today. We had some mixing and matching, and we weren't up to full strength (injuries)."
In singles, the Illini dominated. At the No. 2 singles spot, Philip Stolt quickly dispatched Michael Westerhof 6-1, 6-3, while at No. 6, Nathan Zeder downed Vizzone by a 6-2, 6-1 score. At No. 1 Graydon Oliver swatted Andrew Seni 6-2, 6-3. Mike Kosta defeated Edgar Rivera 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3, and Michael Calkins ousted Jason Pressel 6-2, 6-2. Orange and Blue squad member Jamal Parker fell 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 to Chris Varga at No. 4.
"In doubles we came out kind of nervous, " said Illini freshman Philip Stolt. "We really, really wanted to perform well in our first match, so we were a little tight. But that's good, we don't want to ever be complacent in our standing. It was good for us to get this win today, and start the season strong, because we're a young team."
"As a team I think we came out tight," said senior Graydon Oliver. "Ball State came out fired up in doubles. As the match progressed, we got better, definitely. We have improvements to make, but that was expected."
The Illini are now 1-0 on the year. Up next for the No. 8 Illini is a double header on Friday, January 26. The Orange and Blue host Western Michigan at 1 p.m., and then take on DePaul at 6 p.m. at Atkins Tennis Center.
