April 10, 2005

Ann Arbor, Mich. - The second-ranked Fighting Illini completed their trip to the state of Michigan with a 6-1 win over No. 65 Michigan on Sunday. The match marked the first meeting between current Michigan head coach Bruce Berque and his former team, where he spent five years as an assistant to Illinois head coach Craig Tiley. However, Michigan failed to pull even with the Illini in conference play, as it was the Illini making it 11 in-a-row against the Wolverines moving them to 16-3 (6-0) overall, while Michigan drops to 12-8 (5-2).

"We won, but that was about it today," Tiley said. "The scores were not a true reflection of our play today. We could have been better in some areas and for us to reach our potential and be where we want to be at the end of the season, we are going to have to get better in those areas."

Doubles began with the same pairs that took the court on Saturday against the Spartans and the results were the same. The Illini captured two of the three matches to gain the 1-0 advantage. Pramod Dabir and Ryler DeHeart won with an 8-6 victory at No. 2 over the duo of Josef Fischer and Ryan Heller. Michigan's tandem of Brian Hung and Matko Maravic were too much for Illinois' No. 1 pairing of Kevin Anderson and GD Jones as they completed an 8-6 victory. Chris Martin and Ryan Rowe defeated David Anving and Vinny Gossain, winning 8-2 at No. 3.

In singles play, the Illini dominated as usual as they won five of the six matches. No. 5 DeHeart came out strong again today as he defeated Michigan's fresh face at No. 1 Hung, 7-5, 6-3. No. 33 Jones finished his weekend with a straight set victory over the only ranked Wolverine No. 119 Maravic, 6-2, 6-2. No. 42 Anderson continued his steady play of late with a dominating straight set victory 6-0, 6-1 over Heller at No. 3.

Freshman Ruben Gonzales played his first match at the No. 4 today and again was victorious, this time over Steve Peretz 6-1, 4-6, 10-5. The only loss for the Illini came at the hands of Chris Martin, who failed to get any momentum falling 6-2, 6-3 to Fischer. Rowe capped off the singles play at No. 6, where it was a battle, but in the end it was the Moline, Ill. native who won 6-3, 6-7 (6), 10-6 over Anving.

The Illini will return to Champaign next weekend to host Northwestern on Saturday at noon and Wisconsin on Sunday at noon. The Illini will look to extend their 45-match win streak over Big Ten opponents in their last homestand of the season, before hosting the Big Ten Tournament.

Final Results
No. 2 Illinois 6, No. 65 Michigan 1

Singles:
1. #5 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. Brian Hung (MICH)       7-5, 6-3
2. #33 GD Jones (ILL) def. #119 Matko Maravic (MICH)   6-2, 6-2
3. #42 Kevin Anderson (ILL) def. Ryan Heller (MICH)    6-0, 6-1
4. Ruben Gonzales (ILL) def. Steve Peretz (MICH)       6-1, 4-6, 10-5
5. Josef Fischer (MICH) def. Chris Martin (ILL)        6-2, 6-3
6. Ryan Rowe (ILL) def. David Anving (MICH)	       6-3, 7-6 (6), 10-6
Order of Finish: 3,2,5,1,6,4

Doubles:
1. B. Hung/M. Maravic (MICH) def. Jones/Anderson (ILL)              8-6
2. Pramod Dabir/DeHeart (ILL) def. Josef Fischer/R. Heller (MICH)   8-6
3. Martin/Rowe (ILL) def. David Anving/Vinny Gossain (MICH)	    8-2
Order of Finish: 3,2,1