Sept. 19, 2004

Napa, Calif. - The Illini men's tennis team completed their first event of the 2004-05 season today at the Napa Valley Invitational. The Illini had a sturdy showing as they won 11 of their 20 matches. There were no team results as this was an individual round robin format with Georgia, Texas A&M, and host California.

Several Illini, including two freshmen, Monte Tucker and Brandon Davis, ended play undefeated in the three-day event. Junior Ryler DeHeart, who looks to be one of the Illini's most potent weapons this season, capped off the three-day weekend 3-0. In today's action, DeHeart defeated the Texas A&M Aggie Jerry Makowski 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-1, while Davis took down another Aggie Zack Malmgren 6-3, 7-6(6). GD Jones beat reigning SEC Freshman of the Year, Georgia sophomore John Isner 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

"Overall, I thought our guys really did a great job on the court, especially dealing with the circumstances this week," head coach Craig Tiley said. "Chris, Ryler, and GD all had terrific matches in the three days and I was very pleased to see two of our freshmen (Brandon Davis and Monte Tucker) win all their matches against the good competition here."

Illinois' top ranked singles player, No. 50 senior Chris Martin suffered his only loss of the invitational today as he fell to Conor Niland of California 6-4, 6-4.

There was no doubles play on Sunday.

Tiley and the Illini now return to Champaign without associate head coach Brad Dancer, who still remains in a California hospital after a car accident on Friday. Dancer's condition has been upgraded to stable, but will continue to be monitored for undetermined amount of time.

The Illini head coach knows his frustrating week could have been worse if it wasn't for the gracious hosts at Napa Valley this weekend.

"Again, this is a great event, even with the dealings that took place this year," Tiley said. "We will take a couple days off when we return and regroup after the difficult week. Also, we are really fortunate to have the assistance of Michael Calkins this fall as he will step in and help until Brad is able to return."

September 19th Results

Singles Results:
CAL Niland d. (No. 50) ILL Martin  6-4;6-4
CAL Wallace d. ILL Eklov  6-3;1-6;6-3
UG Ruiz d. ILL Zeder  6-4;6-2
(No. 95) ILL DeHeart d. TX-AM Makowski  6-7(5);7-5;6-1
ILL Davis d. TX-AM Malmgren  6-3;7-6(6
TX-AM Rolle d. ILL Dabir  6-4;7-5
(No. 111) ILL Jones d. UG Isner  6-4;3-6;6-4