May 1, 2004
The top-ranked Fighting Illini men's tennis team (27-0, 12-0) advanced to the Big Ten tournament final today with an impressive 4-0 victory over 46th ranked and fourth-seeded Northwestern in East Lansing, Mich. The match had to be held in Michigan State's indoor tennis facility due to bad weather. The Illini have now advanced to the tournament final for the ninth consecutive year. Illinois will enter the match on a 38-conference-match winning streak and an NCAA record 59-overall-match winning streak (dating back to the beginning of last year).
"We played great today," said Head Coach Craig Tiley. "Our theme all week was to get off to good starts and play with complete dominance. They did exactly what we told them to do. I told them each time we start singles and doubles we have to get off to good starts, and they did that today."
For the second consecutive day, Illinois captured the first two doubles matches that were concluded to jump out to an early 1-0 lead. On April 4 in Evanston seniors Brian Wilson and Phil Stolt beat the duo of Chuck Perrin and Justin Hoeveler, 8-0. While today's duel was not a shutout, the sixth-ranked Illini tandem jumped out to a 5-1 lead and beat Perrin and Hoeveler handily, 8-4, at No. 1. At No. 3, Ryler DeHeart and GD Jones put the finishing touches on Illinois' doubles efforts with an 8-3 victory over Matt Christian and Adam Schaechterle. Since Jones stepped on the University of Illinois campus in January, he and DeHeart are a perfect 14-0 together in doubles.
Illinois' hot start carried over into singles as five UI players jumped out to 4-1 leads. Michael Calkins (No. 123) increased Illinois' lead to 2-0 with a dominating performance at No. 4 over Willy Lock. Calkins won the first set 6-1, and didn't lose a game in the second, ending the match with an ace to win 6-1, 6-0 to improve to 28-9 and 8-3 in the conference. Fellow senior Wilson followed suit with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tommy Hanus in the contest at No. 1. Wilson (20-2, 11-0), the top-ranked player in the nation, has only lost one match since he lost to No. 17 Lester Cook in his first singles match of the year. Stolt, ranked 45th, made it a hat trick for the seniors and gave Illinois the victory with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 2 over Tempke.
"Michael (Calkins) didn't play well yesterday, and we went out and practiced hard yesterday for a couple of hours," said Tiley. "He came out today and did a great job. He served better, was more aggressive off the ground and did a lot of things very well."
The matches at Nos. 3, 5 and 6 were abandoned, once the outcome of the team contest was determined, according to tournament rules.
The Big Ten champion will be crowned tomorrow after Illinois clashes with either Minnesota or Ohio State (who play in the other semifinal this afternoon) in a Noon EDT clash. Illinois beat No. 17 Ohio State in a 4-3 thriller April 11th and beat the 35th-ranked Golden Gophers on the road, 6-1, March 13th. The UI-OSU match was Illinois' closest all season.
"They (Illinois players) are all playing very well right now," said Tiley. "We have to bag it and keep it for tomorrow because tomorrow's match is going to require a different level of toughness."
Saturday's Big Ten Semifinal Results
No. 1 (1 seed) Illinois 4, No. 46 (4 seed) Northwestern 0
Singles:
1. No. 1 Brian Wilson (ILL) def. Tommy Hanus (NU) 6-2, 6-3
2. No. 45 Phil Stolt (ILL) def. Christian Tempke (NU) 6-2, 6-4
3. No. 120 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) vs. Chuck Perrin (NU) abandoned at ILL 6-2, 6-5
4. No. 123 Michael Calkins (ILL) def. Willy Lock (NU) 6-1, 6-0
5. No. 89 Chris Martin (ILL) vs. Matt Christian (NU) abandoned at ILL 6-2, 5-5
6. GD Jones (ILL) vs. Adam Schaechterle (NU) abandoned at ILL 6-4, 2-3
order of finish: 4, 1, 2
Doubles:
1. No. 6 Phil Stolt/Brian Wilson (ILL) def. Chuck Perrin/Justin Hoeveler (NU) 8-4
2. Michael Calkins/Chris Martin (ILL) vs. Tommy Hanus/Christian Tempke (NU) abandoned at ILL 7-3
3. Ryler DeHeart/GD Jones (ILL) def. Matt Christian/Adam Schaechterle (NU) 8-3
order of finish: 1, 3
