April 23, 2005

Minneapolis, Minn. - The fourth-ranked Illini men's tennis team has nearly completed another undefeated Big Ten run after today's 4-3 victory over No. 53 Minnesota in Minneapolis. Today's victory clinches a share of the Big Ten title, Ohio State is the only conference opponent with one loss as the Illini only have one more match to play. The Illini will be able to seal their eighth consecutive undefeated conference season tomorrow when they travel to Iowa. This Big Ten title is the ninth consecutive overall under head coach Craig Tiley. The Orange and Blue moved to 19-3 overall on the season with the victory and now have now won 16 straight against the Golden Gophers.

"It's exciting to win the Big Ten title, especially since it is the first time for a lot of our guys (freshmen)" Tiley said. "Winning the conference nine straight times is an incredible accomplishment. Our guys did a great job of stepping up and really pulled together today, particularly since we were without Kevin (Anderson)."

The past few weeks have seen the Illini steadily improving in doubles and today was another indication of that as they grabbed the much needed point, winning two of three matches. GD Jones and Monte Tucker helped the Illini's cause at No. 2 with a convincing 8-1 victory over the duo of Nic Edlefsen and Raoul Schwark. The Golden Gopher tandem of Avery Ticer and Adrien Debreyne were too much for the Illini's No. 1 pairing of Pramod Dabir and Ryler DeHeart as they won 8-3. Chris Martin and Ryan Rowe had to scratch and claw to stay alive, but the thought of winning another Big Ten title was too great as they slipped past the pair of Mikey Kantar and D.J. Geatz 8-7, (11-9).

The Illini hoping to separate themselves after doubles, did not have that convenience today as the Golden Gophers made things really interesting in singles. Gonzales, who leads the Big Ten in dual wins, won in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4 over Edlefsen. Another of the freshmen clan helped notch another point for the Illini, as Tucker also won in straight sets at No. 3 6-3, 6-2 over Minnesota's Geatz. The 28th-ranked Jones sealed the Big Ten crown as toppled No. 25 Avery Ticer at No. 1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the only match that went to three sets. DeHeart, Dabir and Martin all fell in singles play in straight sets.

"Tomorrow we will look to finish the regular season strong," Tiley said. "You never know what you get when you travel to Iowa, but I'm confident that we will play well and continue to get better."

Illinois will finish the regular season tomorrow at Iowa in a match that will begin at 11:30 a.m. Next week, the Illini will host the Big Ten Championship at Atkins, where play will begin Thursday, April 28 and run through Sunday, May 1.

Final Results
No. 4 Illinois 4, No. 53 Minnesota 3

Singles:
1 GD Jones (ILL) def. Avery Ticer (MN) 			          3-6, 6-3, 6-4
2 Adrien Debreyne (MN) def. Ryler DeHeart (ILL) 		  7-5, 6-4
3 Monte Tucker (ILL) def. D.J. Geatz (MN) 			       6-3, 6-2
4 Ruben Gonzales (ILL) def. Nic Edlefsen (MN) 		    6-4, 6-2
5 Raoul Schwark (MN) def. Pramod Dabir (ILL) 		     6-2, 6-3
6 Brian Lipinski (MN) def. Chris Martin (ILL) 			   6-3, 6-3
Doubles:
1 Ticer/Debreyne (MN) def. Dabir/DeHeart (ILL) 		      8-3
2 Jones/Tucker (ILL) def. Edlefsen/Schwark (MN) 		     8-1
3 Ryan Rowe/Martin (ILL) def. Mikey Kantar/Geatz (MN) 	8-7, (11-9)