Feb. 23, 2002
The Fighting Illini men's tennis team made very sure it avoided any kind of a Big Ten losing "streak" when it opened conference play today with a strong performance resulting in a 6-1 victory at Michigan. The last time Illinois played against a Big Ten team was last spring in the championship match of the Big Ten Tournament, when Ohio State broke the UI's record 57-match winning streak against conference foes.
"We were thinking about that earlier this week," admitted Illinois Head Coach Craig Tiley, but more importantly, unlike last week, we worked on certain things in practice and improved our execution in those areas against Michigan today. We did what we were supposed to do."
Illinois took the doubles points despite a narrow 9-8 (6) loss at No. 2 by Phil Stolt and Brian Wilson to No. 44 Henry Beam and Matt Lockin. Wilson wasn't quite at full strength following the strain to his left hip flexor he sustained a week ago in singles play against LSU, in fact, Tiley held him out of (No. 2) singles as a precautionary measure. Eighth-ranked Michael Calkins and Amer Delic boosted their season record to 12-2 with an 8-4 victory over the Wolverines' Dhris Shaya and Chris Rolf, and Mike Kosta and Nathan Zeder picked up an Illini win at No. 3, dropping Anthony Jackson and Greg Novak, 8-6.
In singles, it was pretty much smooth sailing for the Fighting Illini, except for the No. 3 spot. Kosta, an Ann Arbor native who wanted to win as much as anyone, usually plays No. 4 or 5 for the Illini, but moved up to the third position when Stolt moved to No. 2 in Wilson's absence. Kosta fell, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, to Anthony Jackson. In the other matches, No. 11 Delic squeaked past No. 57 Henry Beam in straight sets with two tie-breakers, No. 33 Stolt breezed past No. 83 Ben Cox, No. 127 Calkins defeated Matt Lockin, Zeder took a three-setter from Greg Novak, and UI freshman Chris Martin jumped into the lineup and disposed of David Anving, 6-1, 6-3.
"I was glad to see Chris step up for us today, especially since he had not played in a match for awhile," said Tiley. "All in all, we did a good job today after a long trip. Tomorrow we'll face another well-coached team in Michigan State, and we're looking forward to it."
TODAY'S RESULTS:
No. 2 ILLINOIS 6 at No. 46 Michigan 1
Singles
1. No. 11 Amer Delic (ILL) def. No. 57 Henry Beam (MICH) 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6)
2. No. 33 Phil Stolt (ILL) def. No. 83 Ben Cox (MICH) 6-2, 6-3
3. Anthony Jackson (MICH) def. Mike Kosta (ILL) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
4. No. 127 Michael Calkins (ILL) def. Matt Lockin (MICH) 7-6 (2), 6-4
5. No. 130 Nathan Zeder (ILL) def. Greg Novak (MICH) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
6. Chris Martin (ILL) def. David Anving (MICH) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles
1. No. 8 Michael Calkins/Amer Delic (ILL) def. Chris Shaya/Chris Rolf (MICH) 8-4
2. No. 44 Henry Beam/Matt Lockin (MICH) def. Brian Wilson/Phil Stolt 9-8 (6)
3. Mike Kosta/Nathan Zeder (ILL) def. Anthony Jackson/Greg Novak (MICH) 8-6
