March 31, 2002

The No. 3 Illinois men's tennis team used some fresh faces to help beat Indiana 6-1 on Youth Day at the Atkins Tennis Center. Illinois (14-4, 4-0) notched its second win over a Big Ten school from Indiana in as many days, following Saturday's 7-0 win over Purdue.

Freshman Evan Zeder made his Illini debut in front of his family and came out with a 6-4, 6-4 win over IU's Efriam Kandinov. Chris Martin, Zeder's classmate, picked up his second victory this weekend, defeating Ari Widlansky 6-1, 6-0.

"I was a little nervous, but I had a lot of fun," Zeder said. "I just stuck with it. It was nice to have my brother and my parents here to see me play my first match, and playing with guys like Chris (Martin) is always great."

The only Illini slip-up was at No. 1 singles, where sophomore Brian Wilson watched his five-match winning streak come to an end in a 6-0, 7-5 loss to Milan Rakvica. Sophomore Phil Stolt defeated Zach Held 6-1, 6-1, and senior Mike Kosta ousted Tom Bagnato 6-2, 6-4. Senior Nathan Zeder, Evan's older brother, won his match against Ryan Recht, 6-2, 7-5.

Illinois started the match strong in doubles, sweeping all three matches to secure the first team point. Stolt and Wilson paired at the No. 1 spot for the second straight day and beat Held and Recht 8-3. Zeder and Kosta picked up an 8-1 win over Rakvica and Widlansky. Senior Jamal Parker and Martin completed the sweep with an 8-4 decision against Kandinov and Reid Strand.

"We played pretty well today," said Illinois Head Coach Craig Tiley. "Score wise it looks good, but it still could have been better. Our next match is Thursday against Northwestern, who has been playing really well. They have a lot of good players that are looking to beat us, so it will be a good match."

Indiana fell to 6-10, 0-4 this season. Illinois begins play against Northwestern at 6 p.m. at Atkins on April 4.

Today's Illinois results


Singles
Milan Rakvica (Ind) def. #72 Brian Wilson (ILL)                 6-0, 7-5
#45 Phil Stolt (ILL) def. Zach Held (Ind)                       6-1, 6-1
Mike Kosta (ILL) def. Tom Bagnato (Ind)                         6-2, 6-4
Nathan Zeder (ILL) def. Ryan Recht (Ind)                        6-2, 7-5
Chris Martin (ILL) def. Ari Widlansky (Ind)                     6-1, 6-0
Evan Zeder (ILL) def. Efriam Kandinov (Ind)                     6-4, 6-4

Doubles
Stolt/Wilson (ILL) def. Held/Recht (Ind)                        8-3
Kosta/Zeder (ILL) def. Rakvica/Widlansky (Ind)                  8-1
Jamal Parker/Martin (ILL) def. Kandinov/Reid Strand(Ind)        8-4