Sept. 28, 2001
Illinois wasted no time in asserting its dominance on Day 1 of the 2001-02 tennis season. The Orange and Blue swept all eight of its singles matches and took three of its four doubles contests against Southern Cal to open the three-day, four-team Napa Valley Tennis Challenge held at the Meadowood Resort in St. Helens, Calif.
Three Fighting Illini players scored big singles victories over ranked opponents. No. 27 Phil Stolt, a UI sophomore, registered an impressive 6-3, 6-3 win over USC's eighth-ranked Andrew Park. Sophomore Amer Delic, ranked No. 88, defeated the Trojans' Damien Spizzo, the No. 63 player in the nation, 6-0, 6-4, and Delic's classmate, Michael Calkins, came up with a strong season-opening effort when he beat No. 97 Prakash Armitraj, 6-4, 7-5. In the heralded collegiate debut of Illini freshman Chris Martin, the 100th-ranked player was victorious over Southern California's Daniel Lange, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2).
"Any time you can beat players from a traditionally strong program like USC decisively, you have to be pleased," said Illinois Head Coach Craig Tiley. "We knew we would have a good team this season, but right now we are most concerned about improving all aspects of our play."
When asked about Martin's first collegiate match, Tiley replied, "Chris did a very good job today. He was playing against an opponent who has had a great deal of international experience. It was a great effort."
In other singles action, senior Mike Kosta defeated Tiege Sullivan, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, sophomore Brian Wilson topped Garrett Wong, 6-3, 6-3, senior Nathan Zeder won, 6-2, 6--2 over Chris Jenton, and senior Jamal Parker won in a match against Jeff King of California, 7-6 (3), 6-3.
On the doubles side, Delic and Calkins combined to defeat Lange and Spizzo, 8-4. Stolt and Wilson were victorious, 8-2, over Jenton and Sullivan. And Martin and Parker teamed for an 8-0 victory over USC's Wong and Cal's King. Zeder and Kosta suffered the only UI loss on the day, an 8-4 decision at the hands of Southern Cal's Park and Armitraj.
"We have lots of pride in our doubles, and I'm pleased, because, for the most part, we're really improving," said Tiley.
The tournament is a modified round robin affair with individuals from the two Pac-10 schools taking on their counterparts from Illinois and Minnesota of the Big Ten. No team scores are being kept. The Illini will take on mainly players from Cal on Saturday.
