Jan. 26, 2002

The Illinois men's tennis team won its first dual match of the season, 5-2, over Ball State today at the Muncie (Ind.) YMCA Indoor Tennis Center.

The Fighting Illini were without the services of sophomore standouts Phil Stolt and Michael Calkins, but still managed to defeat the 75th-ranked Cardinals by taking two of three doubles matches and four of the six singles contests.

No. 77 Brian Wilson, Nathan Zeder, Chris Martin and No. 100 Jamal Parker won at Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 6 singles, while ninth-ranked Amer Delic was upset at No. 1 and Mike Kosta faltered at No. 3. Both setbacks came after third-set tiebreakers.

"It wasn't a bad effort, for our first match of the season," said UI Head Coach Craig Tiley. "We were a little rusty in spots, but overall I thought our players did a good job. Certainly we have some things to work on before we play a very good Pepperdine team next week. In doubles, but 17th-ranked Zeder and Kosta were victorious at No. 1 and Parker and Martin won at No. 3.

The Cardinals fall to 2-1 on the season, while Illinois moves to 1-0 ahead of its home opener Saturday evening, Feb. 2 against eighth-ranked Pepperdine at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana.

TODAY'S RESULTS:

Singles
1. Jason Pressel (BSU) def. No. 9 Amer Delic (ILL) 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (4)
2. No. 77 Brian Wilson (ILL) def. Andrew Seni (BSU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Chris Varga (BSU) def. Mike Kosta (ILL) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
4. Nathan Zeder (ILL) def. Michael Heule (BSU) 6-3, 6-3
5. Chris Martin (ILL) def. Kevin Burnett (BSU) 6-3, 6-4
6. No. 100 Jamal Parker (ILL) def. Matt Laramore (BSU) 6-1, 3-6, 7-5

Doubles
1. No. 17 Nathan Zeder/Mike Kosta (ILL) def. Jason Pressel/Kevin Burnett (BSU) 8-6
2. Chris Varga/ Brad Rhodes (BSU) def. Brian Wilson/Amer Delic (ILL) 8-5
3. Chris Martin/Jamal Parker (ILL) def. Andrew Seni/Klint Knable (BSU) 8-3