May 3, 2004
The Illinois men's and women's tennis teams took some time to celebrate the past year's accomplishments at the tenth annual Advantage Illinois Tennis Awards Banquet at the Hawthorn Suites Hotel in Champaign Monday night. The awards were voted on by players, coaches and support staff.
On the women's team, which is 17-5 and 8-3 in the Big Ten, senior Jennifer McGaffigan, the winningest player in the history of the program, was voted team MVP. The Davenport, Iowa native leads the Illini with 29 singles wins this season. McGaffigan has been ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association all season; she is currently No. 38.
Junior Cynthya Goulet earned her second Scholar-Athlete award in a row by virtue of her 3.9 grade point average (G.P.A.) in the College of Business. McGaffigan won her second Strength and Conditioning award in three seasons while Brianna Knue took home the Fighting Illini Spirit award.
Knue was also recognized as the team's Player to Watch next season. Knue has been a team leader this season, despite suffering a stress fracture in her foot last month that prevented her from playing down the stretch of the Big Ten season.
The men's tennis team, finished the season with an untarnished 28-0 record, and won its eighth consecutive Big Ten regular season crown and its seventh Big Ten tournament championship in the last eight seasons.
The men's Most Valuable Player award was given for the second consecutive season to senior Brian Wilson, who is Illinois' first player to be ranked No. 1 in the nation in singles. Wilson takes a 20-3 record (all from the second semester) into NCAA Tournament play.
Junior Chris Martin won the GPA Award (3.8 in Finance); Phil Stolt garnered the Strength and Conditioning Award; Michael Calkins received the Fighting Illini Spirit Award; freshman GD Jones was designated the "Player to Watch"; and Ryler DeHeart earned distinction as the Most Improved Player.
Both teams return to action May 15-16 for the NCAA regionals. Sites and seedings will be announced Wednesday May 5 at 3:35 p.m. CST. The pairings can be seen on the ESPNEWS channel.
