Nov. 5, 2004

Ann Arbor, Mich. - It was an up-and-down day for the Illini on Friday at the ITA National Indoor tournament hosted by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Ryler DeHeart and GD Jones doubles show came to an end as they fell in the quarterfinal, but DeHeart continued to climb his way to semifinal by winning two singles matches.

DeHeart went up against one of his stiffest tests of his career in the first match of the day facing No. 8 in the nation and fourth seeded Pedro Rico of Pepperdine. Rico gave him an earlier taste of what to expect as he took the Illini to the limit in the first set, but once again, DeHeart, who has shown tremendous focus when things get difficult battled through in the opening set 7-6 (3). In the second set, DeHeart looked to have gained some momentum and confidence from the first, as he handled the second set with a bit more ease taking it 6-4.

"I thought Ryler really took his game to Rico throughout the match," said associate head coach Brad Dancer. "He never let up and stayed on him, which allowed Ryler to play the big points as well as he did."

In the afternoon quarterfinal match, DeHeart faced No. 59 Arnaud Lecloerec from VCU. This match was back-and-fourth throughout as they traded the first two sets with DeHeart winning the first 6-4, 1-6. In the third set, DeHeart dug in and forced the set to the limit by winning big point-after-big point down the stretch to go on to win the match 7-6 (5).

"Ryler's gutsy play was the difference today," Dancer said. "He stopped transitioning in the second and most of the third set, but started back up in the third and became aggressive which was big. It was great to see him come out with a win in the clutch."

DeHeart now moves to an impressive 8-1 against ranked opponents and is 16-1 overall now on the season.

In Saturday's semifinal, DeHart will face No. 9 Izak van der Merwe of Old Dominion. The match is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. EST.

In doubles, DeHeart and Jones did not get any breaks after beating the No. 5 team in the country yesterday as today they took on the No. 1 duo and the second seeded KC Corkery and Sam Warburg from Stanford. The Illini combination was not able to do what they wanted as the top team in the country showed why they are No.1 handing DeHeart and Jones an 8-4 loss. DeHeart and Jones moved to 11-3.

"They didn't play their best today and Stanford had a lot to do with it," Dancer said. "This team (Stanford) won the National Championship last year. Their experience and composure was better than our guys today."

For complete bracket information please visit www.itatennis.com

Main Draw Results
Singles:
No. 95 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. No. 8 (4) Pedro Rico (Pepperdine); 7-6 (3), 6-4
No. 95 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. No. 59 Arnaud Lecloerec (VCU); 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5)

Doubles:
No. 1 (2) KC Corkery/Sam Warburg (Stanford) def. No. 17 DeHeart/Jones (ILL); 8-4