Oct. 9, 2003

Five members of the Fighting Illini men's tennis team opened main draw competition at the ITA All-American Tournament this afternoon in Chattanooga, Tenn. No. 62 Michael Calkins led a strong performance by the Illini, by defeating two ranked opponents on his way to the Round of 16. Calkins defeated No. 69 Thomas Schoeck of Boise State; 6-1, 7-5; later in the day he went on to defeat No. 45 Shannon Buck of Air Force; 7-6(4), 6-2 in the round of 32.

Four other Illini competed today: No. 44 Ryler DeHeart, No. 86 Chris Martin, Evan Zeder, and Connor Murnighan. Despite two losses on the day, Martin had strong matches against two ranked opponents. DeHeart lost once to No. 49 Gabor Zol Pelvo of Auburn in a tight match; 7-5, 7-5.

"Today was a huge improvement on our previous performance," said Head Coach Craig Tiley. "I was particularly excited about the performances of Chris Martin and Michael Calkins. In addition, Ryler DeHeart played one of his better matches this year."

The Illini have a different look with this fall with three of their top players missing from the lineup. Amer Delic and Brian Wilson are taking the fall off and 13th-ranked Phil Stolt is still recovering from August back surgery.

"It's requiring some adjustment," continued Tiley. "Based on today's performance, we're on the right track and looking forward to making even bigger jumps."

Tomorrow, Calkins continues his quest for a championship and DeHeart will compete in the second round of the consolation bracket after advancing there today. Despite their setback today to a team from Louisiana State, the 16th-ranked duo of Calkins and Murnighan will continue to do battle in the doubles consolation bracket while the No. 31 combination of Zeder and Martin will begin play after a rainout today.

Calkins will face his biggest challenge of the tournament when he takes on No. 20 Jeremy Wurtzman of Ohio State in the Round of 16 at 10 a.m. DeHeart will face Pedro Rico, also of Ohio Stat,e at 9 a.m. Zeder and Martin will compete against No. 3 Zoltan Csanadi/Izak Van der Merwe of Old Dominion at 1 p.m. Calkins and Murnighan will play a pair to be determined in a 1 p.m. contest.

THURSDAY'S ILLINOIS RESULTS:

Singles:
#62 Michael Calkins (ILL) def. #69 Thomas Schoeck (Boise State)    6-1, 7-5
#62 Michael Calkins (ILL) def. #45 Shannon Buck (Air Force)        7-6(4), 6-2
#49 Gabor Zol Pelvo (Auburn) def. #44 Ryler DeHeart (ILL)          7-5, 7-5
#44 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. #8 Hamid Mirzadeh                     (dnp-injury)
#47 Alex Menichini (TCU) def. #86 Chris Martin (ILL)               0-6, 6-4, 6-3
#99 Erik Nyman (BYU) def. #86 Chris Martin (ILL)                   6-3, 6-7(3), 6-0

Doubles:
#7 Bryan Fisher/Jason Hazley (LSU) def. #16Michael Calkins/Conner Murnighan (ILL)	8-1