May 2, 2004

With a spectacular 4-1 victory over 17th-ranked and second-seeded Ohio State, the top-ranked Illinois men's tennis team won the Big Ten Tournament Championship today in East Lansing, Mich. Today's title bout was held indoors at the Michigan State Indoor Tennis Facility due to cold temperatures. This victory was the second for the Illini over the Buckeyes in three weeks; Illinois squeezed past OSU, 4-3, at the UI Atkins Tennis Center on April 11.

The Fighting Illini earned the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, which starts next week at 16 sites across the nation, one of which is likely to be in Champaign-Urbana. Coach Craig Tiley's troops will enter the tourney with a 28-0 season record; the team went 13-0 against Big Ten foes. The triumph extends Illinois' gaudy NCAA record dual-match winning streak to 60, dating back to the beginning of the 2003 campaign.

"For these seniors to go out winning another Big Ten title, and to do it in the fashion that we did, is great," said Tiley. "Ohio State had a great team and played very well against us. These guys deserve this--I'm really proud of their efforts."

Doubles play was riveting; there were 17 ties along the way among the three matches. Illinois nabbed the first victory at the No. 3 spot with Ryler DeHeart and GD Jones beating Dennis Mertens and Brenton Contini. The match went back and forth until the score was knotted at 5, after which the Orange and Blue captured the next three points to win, 8-5. The victory moves the UI duo to 15-0 this season.

With the win and No. 3 in the books and Michael Calkins and Chris Martin knotted at 5 in a tie-breaker at No. 2, Illinois' second and clinching doubles victory came at the No. 1 spot from the sixth-ranked duo of Brian Wilson and Phil Stolt. They saw themselves fall behind, 5-3, to No. 32 Jeremy Wurtzman and Joey Atas, but held serve three times and broke OSU's serve twice, taking five of the next six games to win, 8-6. That was the same score by which the Buckeye pair won the previous matchup three weeks ago in Urbana. The Illini tandem is now 19-4 this season and 9-2 in conference.

Stolt started things off for the Orange and Blue in singles competition with a 6-4, 6-1 victory at No. 2 over Chris Klingemann. Since dropping two consecutive matches on the spring break trip at Florida and Florida State, Stolt has won 10 out of his last 11 to improve to 17-5 overall. Calkins built on his terrific Saturday performance by beating Devin Mullings in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4. Calkins entered Big Ten Tournament play as Illinois' all-time doubles and overall career wins leader, and with the win today he tied Gavin Sontag's school record of 120 singles wins. DeHeart provided the clinching victory for the Illini this afternoon. He fell behind, 5-4, in the first set, but rallied to win, 7-5; he took the second set in dramatic fashion, 6-3, to send another Big Ten trophy to the Atkins Tennis Center.

"It was a good feeling," said DeHeart of his clinching victory. "It hasn't happened to me very many times, and every time it does, it's a new experience. It's a new good feeling."

Illinois will begin defense of its 2003 NCAA Championship with first-round play Saturday, May 14. The NCAA will announce pairings live on ESPN News Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. CDT.

"One of our goals was to win this (Big Ten Championship)," said Tiley. "We have accomplished three of our four goals this year; our next goal is to win the NCAA title."

SUNDAY'S BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS:
No. 1 (1 seed) Illinois 4, No. 17 (2 seed) Ohio State 1

Doubles:
1. #6 Phil Stolt/Brian Wilson (ILL) def. #32Jeremy Wurtzman/Joey Atas (OSU)    8-6
2. Michael Calkins/Chris Martin (ILL) def. Ross Wilson/Scott Green (OSU)       DNF
3. Ryler DeHeat/GD Jones (ILL) def. Brenton Contini/Dennis Mertens (OSU)       8-5
Order of finish: 3, 1

Singles:
1. #4 Jeremy Wurtzman (OSU) def. #1 Brian Wilson (ILL)   7-6 (4), 6-3
2. #45 Phil Stolt (ILL) def. Chris Klingelmann (OSU)     6-4, 6-1
3. #120 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. Joey Atas (OSU)         7-5, 6-3
4. #123 Michael Calkins (ILL) def. Devin Mullings (OSU)  6-3, 6-3
5. #89 Chris Martin (ILL) vs. Ross Wilson (OSU)          DNF
6. GD Jones (ILL) vs. Dennis Mertens (OSU)               DNF
Order of finish 2, 4, 1, 3