May 13, 2001
The Fighting Illini men's tennis team will have to cancel its reservations for Georgia. No. 17 Mississippi State reached the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in 12 years as it eliminated Illinois, 4-2, this afternoon at the UI Atkins Tennis Center in second-round action.
The Bulldogs dealt the Illini only their second loss at home this season, but it was a costly one, as it ended the campaign for the Orange and Blue.
"I was extremely disappointed with our performance today," said Head Coach Craig Tiley. "Dropping the doubles point really hurt us. It's tough to lose that to a team that's capable of winning the national championship and come back to win.
"Basically, we broke down technically, and it cost us the match," Tiley continued.
Illinois and Mississippi State split the first two doubles matches. MSU's Rene-Charles Combette and Romain Ambert combined to defeat the Illini team of freshman Michael Calkins and junior Mike Kosta, 8-5. The Fighting Illini answered with an 8-6 triumph at No. 2 when junior Jamal Parker and freshman Phil Stolt got past Luiz Carvalho and Jerome Le Belicard, 8-6.
All eyes then turned to Court #2, where the No. 1 doubles match was taking place. Second-ranked Amer Delic and Graydon Oliver had jumped out to 3-0 lead, but couldn't hold on against No. 21 Marco Baron and Chris McDonald. The Bulldog duo outlasted the Illini pair, 9-8, with a 7-5 score in the tiebreaker. When Mississippi State won the doubles point, a noticeable change took place with the mood of Illinois' home crowd.
Down, 1-0, with the Illini fans quiet, Nathan Zeder brought back some optimism for the home team and tied the score at 1-1 with a workmanlike 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 6 singles over MSU's Le Bellicard. The Bulldogs took the lead back in the see-saw affair when Luiz Carvalho, the only non-Frenchman in the visitors' singles lineup, defeated Calkins at No. 5 by the score of 6-4, 6-4. Illinois bounced back to tie the match again at 2-2, when Stolt nippped Mississippi State's Combette, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), at No. 3.
Oliver, in his last match as an Illini at the Atkins Tennis Center, took the first set in his match at No. 1 against Baron, 7-6 (4), but Baron, the second-ranked singles player in the nation, dominated in the second and third sets, 6-1 and 6-2, to put the hosts' backs against the wall. At No. 4, Illinois' Mike Kosta had lost the first set to David Ruiz but tied the contest at 4-4 in the second set in his bid to force a third set. But that was when the Bulldog freshman Romain Ambert, just back this weekend after suffering a broken ankle seven weeks ago, clinched the match for MSU with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 triumph over Delic at No. 2.
The victory boosted Mississippi State's season record to 14-10. The Fighting Illini ended the season with a mark of 22-7. The Bulldogs move on to the round of 16 in Athens, Ga., which gets underway Saturday, May 19.
The Illini aren't totally done, however. Delic and Oliver will represent the University of Illinois in the NCAA doubes tournament, and Oliver will be Illinois' lone entry into the NCAA singles competition, both of which take place next week at the University of Georgia. Pairings have not yet been announced for the singles and doubles tourney.
"We make no excuses," said Tiley," but three things worked against us. "First, we need the Big Ten to be stronger as a conference. More tough matches near the end of the year would have benefited us. Second, we didn't take care of technical details down the stretch. Our fundamentals should have been better. And finally, our young guys didn't fully understand our belief system. We were a very young team this year. Still, 22-7 is a good season. But in the end, I always look at our last match when I think about the year we had."
NCAA Regional Tournament, Round 2, Atkins Tennis Center, Urbana, Ill.:
No. 17 Mississippi State 4, No. 11 Illinois 2
SINGLES
1. No. 2 Marco Baron (MSU) def. No. 26 Graydon Oliver (ILL) 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-2
2. No. 22 Romain Ambert (MSU) def. Amer Delic (ILL) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
3. No. 61 Phil Stolt (ILL) def. NO. 68 Rene-Charles Combette (MSU) 7-5, 7-6 (8-6)
4. Mike Kosta (ILL) vs. David Ruiz (MSU) suspended with MSU leading, 7-6 (3), 4-4
5. Luiz Carvalho (MSU) def. Michael Calkins (ILL) 6-4,6-4
6 Nathan Zeder (ILL) def. Jerome Le Belicard (MSU) 6-1, 6-2
DOUBLES
1. No. 21 Marco Baron/Chris McDonald (MSU) def. No. 2 Amer Delic/Graydon Oliver (ILL) 9-8 (7-5)
2. Jamal Parker/Phil Stolt (ILL) def. Luiz Carvalho/Jerome Le Belicard (MSU) 8-6
3. Rene-Charles Combette/Romain Ambert (MSU) def. Mike Kosta/Michael Calkins (ILL) 8-5
