Oct. 5, 2004

Chattanooga, Tenn. - Illinois' Ryler DeHeart moved into the third round of qualifying at the Icy Hot/ITA All-American Tournament today in Chattanooga, Tenn. Unfortunately, DeHeart was the only one to advance on the second day as Pramod Dabir, GD Jones, and Monte Tucker all fell in their second round matches.

"Ryler has yet to be challenged, he's playing really well right now," Dancer said. "It's unfortunate the other guys couldn't move on. However, the one positive point is that everyone now has something they can take away from the today and work on more in practice this week."

In the morning action, No. 121 Tucker and No. 68 Dabir stumbled out of the block as they both came up short in their early matches. Tucker fell to Florida's Chris Brandi 7-5, 6-2, while Dabir couldn't hang on against Central Florida's Antonio Sierra 6-4, 6-4.

DeHeart (No. 95) got the Illini off to a better start in the afternoon as he took down Denver's Adam Holmstrom 6-3, 6-4. DeHeart is now 5-0 for the fall season. The sophomore Jones (No. 111) came out strong taking the first set 7-5 in his afternoon match, but allowed Christoph Palmanshefer from Washington to get back in the match in the second set, which was enough for the Huskie to escape 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

With a victory tomorrow, DeHeart would join junior Chris Martin in the singles main draw, which starts Thursday. DeHeart and Jones will compete at 11 a.m. CST in doubles on Thursday.

For complete bracket information please visit www.itatennis.com

Today's Qualifying Results

Singles:
Antonio Sierra (UCF) def. No. 68 Pramod Dabir (ILL);		       6-4, 6-4
Chris Brandi (FLA) def. No. 121 Monte Tucker (ILL);       		 7-5, 6-2
No.  95 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. Adam Holmstrom  (Denver);	  6-3, 6-4
Christoph Palmanshefer  (Wash.) def. No. 111 GD Jones (ILL);	5-7, 6-3, 6-2

Tomorrow:
No.  95 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) vs. Sean Kelleher (William & Mary);	  9 a.m.