May 22, 2004

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As the sun set over the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. at the NCAA Tournament, Illinois senior Michael Calkins put on a superb third-set performance which saw him win, 6-2, over Cliff Nguyen and provide the clinching victory for the Illini in a 4-3 triumph over 16th-seeded and 21st-ranked Harvard. Calkins' 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2 win at No. 4 was his third match-clinching victory (in a 4-3 match) in the last month-and-a-half (April 7 at Kentucky and April 11 at home against Ohio State).

"I've been working all year to get Michael (Calkins) more eligibility," Illinois Head Coach Craig Tiley joked after Calkins' victory. "If you want to go into battle, you'd better take Michael with you, and you'll win. We're going to hurt as a program when a guy like Michael leaves. He's our heart and soul."

Today's win improved Illinois' NCAA round-of-16 record to a perfect 5-0 since 1999 when the NCAA expanded the field to 64 teams. All-time, Illinois is 19-7 in the tournament and 9-0 in 2003 and 2004. The Orange and Blue will advance to the quarterfinal round tomorrow for the fifth time in the past six years. The Illini are now 31-0 this season; the Crimson finishes its season at 19-7.

UI started strong as it has in 28 of its 31 matches this season, capturing the doubles point. The fifth-ranked senior tandem of Brian Wilson and Phil Stolt was in control most of the match at No. 1. After a tie at 2-2 with Jonathan Chu and Brandon Chiu, the Illinois duo took five of the next six games, breaking Harvard's serve twice to pull ahead, 7-3, and went on to take the decision, 8-6. The duo of Ryler DeHeart and GD Jones improved to 17-1 this year after prevailing, 8-6, at No. 3 over Martin Wetzel and Chris Chiou.

After securing the 1-0 lead, Stolt and Jones dropped their matches, which put Harvard ahead, 2-1. Finishing almost simultaneously with Stolt, DeHeart (29-10), ranked 121st, put the Orange and Blue back on track. After taking the first set, 6-4, he fell behind, 5-3, in the second; then he broke serve and held his own to crawl back to 5-5. Down once again, facing a 15-40 deficit in a pivotal 10th game, he came back to go ahead, 6-5, before eventually winning the second set, 7-5, and evening the match at 2-2.

Wilson captured his first, 6-3, and jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the second over David Lingman. Lingman then mounted a huge comeback to knot the score at 6 apiece, surviving multiple match points in the process. Wilson regrouped and captured the tie-breaker, 7-2, to give Illinois a crucial 3-2 lead. Wilson, the No. 1-ranked player in the country, is now 22-3 and has won 10 of his last 11 singles contests. When Chris Martin ended up on the short end of his three-set match, the score was knotted at 3-3 and the stage was set for Calkins' heroics. In his third set already when the score became tied again, Calkins provided the finishing touches for Illinois while improving his team-best singles slate to 31-9 this season.

"I said yesterday and I've said all along to our team that Harvard is a very good team and capable of beating us," said Tiley. "I think we got lucky today. We were up in the match, and I think our players put it on cruise control and started to lose their edge. That was disappointing."

"We would have liked to clinch it early," said Wilson. "That would have saved our bodies a little for tomorrow, but it didn't happen. Mike did a great job to finish, and he played a wonderful third set."

Tomorrow's quarterfinal tilt will be a rematch of last year's NCAA title confrontation, which will pit the Orange Blue against Vanderbilt. Today Vanderbilt defeated eighth-seeded Georgia, 4-3, to advance.

"Some of our guys didn't play their best today, and it's not acceptable," said Calkins. "Craig lit into us and it was a good wake-up call for us. Tomorrow we'll come out firing."

The Illini defeated the Commodores, 4-3, a year ago cap off their perfect 32-0 season. Tomorrow's competition could possibly see four singles rematches from last year's championship match. The Illini captured three of those four confrontations. Stolt will face Scott Brown (Stolt a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victor a year ago); Calkins will go against Zach Dailey (Calkins 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 victor in 2003); Martin will take on Lewis Smith (Martin victorious 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 last season); and Wilson will seek redemption against Chad Harris (Harris triumphed 2-6, 6-1, 7-5). Martin's victory over Smith at No. 6 last year was the clinching victory for Illinois.

Calkins' and Martin's rematches are tentative, as DeHeart suffered a minor injury this evening to his lower back. If DeHeart is unable to play, which Tiley said is 80 percent likely, junior Evan Zeder or sophomore Pramod Dabir will play at No. 6 with Calkins, Martin and Jones each moving up one spot in the lineup.

Today's NCAA Round of 16 Results:
#1 seed Illinois 4, #16 seed Harvard 3

DOUBLES:
1  #5 Brian Wilson/Phil Stolt (ILL) def. Jonathan Chu/Brandon Chiu (HARV)      8-6
2  Michael Calkins/Chris Martin (ILL) vs. David Lingman/Mark Riddell (HARV)    DNF
3  Ryler DeHeart/GD Jones (ILL) def. Martin Wetzel/Chris Chiou (HARV)          8-6

SINGLES:>Brian Wilson (ILL) def. David Lingman (HARV)      6-3, 7-6 (2)
2  Jonathan Chu (HARV) def. #51 Phil Stolt (ILL)        7-6 (1), 6-3
3  #121 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. Mark Riddell (HARV)    6-4, 7-5
4  Michael Calkins (ILL) def. Cliff Nguyen (HARV)       6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2
5  Martin Wetzel (HARV) def. #95 Chris Martin (ILL)     2-6, 6-2, 6-2
6 Chris Chou (HARV) def. GD Jones (ILL)                 7-5, 6-2