Oct. 7, 2003
Illini juniors Conner Murnighan and Evan Zeder each competed in the qualifying round of the ITA All-American Tournament today in Chattanooga, Tenn. Murnighan competed against Izak Van der Merwe from Old Dominion University, losing 6-1, 6-1. Zeder also suffered a defeat at the hands of Felix Hardt of San Diego State University by a score of 6-0, 6-1.
"Both of them were disappointed in their performances today," said Associate Head Coach Bruce Berque. "Even though they both suffered defeats, it is a strong tournament with almost every good player in the country competing here this week. There is no quick magic solution for them to get back on track; they (Zeder and Murnighan) just have to continue to work hard on their games in the next couple of weeks to improve."
Even though both Murnighan and Zeder were eliminated from the singles portion of the ITA All-American tournament both will compete on Thursday in the main draw portion of the doubles tournament.
"It is a good thing that both have an opportunity to compete in doubles still," continued Berque. "They (Murnighan and Zeder) will both be competing in their first main draw event, which will come in one of the major collegiate tournaments of the year."
No. 44 Ryler DeHeart, No. 62 Michael Calkins, and No. 86 Chris Martin will be joining Murnighan and Zeder on Thursday for the main draw singles and doubles portion of the All-American. DeHeart, Calkins, and Martin will compete in singles; the duos of No. 16 Murnighan/Calkins and No. 31 Zeder/Martin will also play in doubles, which also commences on Thursday.
Complete brackets and other tournament information is available on-line at www.itatennis.com.
