March 25, 2005

Malibu, Calif. - For only the second time this season, the Fighting Illini fell to their opponent as they lost 5-2 to No. 13 Pepperdine on Friday. The Waves kept their perfect home streak intact moving as they reached 8-0 this season at home and are now 13-2 overall, while the Illini fall to 12-2 overall this season.

"Pepperdine played well, but we have some weaknesses and was the reason for the result," Head coach Craig Tiley said. "They really outcompeted and outplayed us tonight, which is disappointing since we had such a great effort a few nights ago against USC. We will be ready our trip to Stanford and look to finish this trip on strong note."

The Illini were halted early as they struggled in doubles, losing two of three matches to drop the doubles point. The only winner of the day for the Illini in doubles was the pair of No. 9 GD Jones and Ryler DeHeart, who defeated No. 16 Scott Doerner and Pedro Rico, 8-3 at No. 1. At No. 2, Pramod Dabir and Kevin Anderson couldn't control Jonas Berg and Ivor Lovrak of Pepperdine, as the Waves duo held on for an 8-6 victory. Chris Martin and Brandon Davis had the same difficulty with Kevin Borzenski and Richard Johnson, as they fell 8-4 at No. 3.

After the intermission, Illinois asserted its singles dominance. The No. 6 player in the country, DeHeart, got the Illini off and running in singles as he beat Berg of Pepperdine in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 to bring the Illini even at 1-1. Martin fell to 4-3 on the season after he lost to Ivor Lovrak 6-0, 7-6 at the No. 5 position. The Waves momentum over came the Illini as they picked up two more to seal the victory as Johnson defeated Tucker 6-3, 6-4 and Ruben Gonzales came up short to Rafidison 6-4, 6-4.

No. 27 Jones would win his singles match in three sets 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 against No. 51 Doerner. Anderson fought hard, but dropped two tie-breakers in a three set loss 0-6, 7-6, 7-6 against No. 16 Rico.

The Orange and Blue will wrap up their trip next Tuesday as they face No. 10 Stanford at 3:30 p.m. CST.

Pepperdine 5, Illinois 2
Results

Singles
No. 27 GD Jones (ILL) def. No. 51 Scott Doerner(PEP)      6-4, 1-6, 6-2
No. 16 Pedro Rico (PEP) def. No. 24 Kevin Anderson (ILL)  0-6, 7-6, 7-6
No. 6 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. Jonas Berg (PEP)                6-4, 6-1
Richard Johnson (PEP) def. Monte Tucker (ILL)		        6-3, 6-4
Ivor Lovrak (PEP) def. Chris Martin (ILL)                      6-0, 7-6
Alexis Rafidison (PEP) def. Ruben Gonzales (ILL)                 6-4, 6-4

Doubles
No. 9 DeHeart/Jones (ILL) def. No. 16 Doerner/Rico (PEP)        8-3
Berg/Lovrak (PEP) def. Anderson/Dabir (ILL)                     8-6
Borzenski/Johnson (PEP) def. Davis/Martin (ILL)                 8-4