Feb. 13, 2004

For the second consecutive week a University of Illinois player has been honored as the Big Ten Tennis Player of the Week.

After Brian Wilson received the inaugural award last week, sophomore Ryler DeHeart, ranked 65th nationally, took the honor this week for his performance in helping Illinois win its second consecutive USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championship.

DeHeart has started the spring season of with a flourish, going undefeated (6-0). In last weekend's USTA/ITA, DeHeart went 3-0, with wins in matches against No. 48 Tulsa, No. 8 Duke and No. 5 Stanford (last week's rankings). The sophomore beat Aleksander Charpantidis of Tulsa, 6-1, 6-3, in the opening round. In the quarterfinal round, DeHeart triumphed over Duke's Stephen Amritraj 7-5, 6-4, and he bested Carter Morris of Stanford, 6-1, 6-2, in the semifinal.

DeHeart and doubles partner Pramod Dabir also won two doubles matches in the tournament. The duo was victorious over Tulsa's Tom Murray and Diego Camacho 8-3, and over Phil Sheng and Joe Kao from Stanford, 8-5. The tandem has a record of 9-3 on the season thus far (fall and spring).

DeHeart and the top-ranked Fighting Illini will resume action tomorrow when they travel to No. 6 Duke for a rematch of last weekend's quarterfinal bout between the two heavyweights where the Illini won, 4-3.