April 29, 2005

Urbana, Ill. -

ILL-Michigan St. Results in PDF Format
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The Fighting Illini opened Big Ten Tournament play on Friday morning with a 4-0 win against No. 8 seeded Michigan State at Atkins Tennis Center in front of nearly 250 Illini fans. The Orange and Blue extended their overall Big Ten win streak to 50, after they won their tenth consecutive opening round match in the conference tournament. The Illini moved to 21-3 overall on the season and are now 11-0 against conference foes this season.

"We've got a lot of freshman and the young guys stepped up well," head coach Craig Tiley said. "It was nice to see Ryler play as well as he did today and finish it fast. It's been great that we have the depth we do; we've been able to have other guys step in to replace Kevin (Anderson), who's been one of our best players and who's going to be out the rest of the weekend. Of course the competition is going to get tougher, so they'll have to continue to do that."

Knowing that the doubles play will be more crucial the rest of the season, the Illini have put a lot of emphasis on improving their doubles play and on Friday it looked as if it may be paying off. Today the Illini ran all over the Spartans in doubles as they took the point in swift fashion, winning at No. 1 and 3, before No. 2 could finish play.

At No. 1 for the Illini was Pramod Dabir and Ryler DeHeart, the combination picked up their seventh Big Ten victory of the season together against Andy Formanczyk and Nick Rinks, 8-5. Senior Evan Zeder and Brandon Davis teamed up at No. 3 and flourished on the cloudy day winning 8-2 over Anthony Stefani and Adam Monich. Chris Martin and Ryan Rowe had to abandon their match after leading 5-3 over Michael Flowers and Cameron Marshall.

The Illini continued the strong play in singles as they quickly dispatched the Spartans with three singles victories at No. 1, 4 and 5. DeHeart was the first to secure a win, as he came out on top for the 37th time this season in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0 over Formanczyk at No. 1. At No. 4, Martin had an excellent day on the court as he also won in straight sets against Monich, 6-1, 6-2. Dabir finished the match with his second victory of the day against Joe McWilliams, 6-1, 7-6 (5).

Jones, Gonzales and Rowe all held leads before their matches were abandoned after the fourth point was reached.

The Illini return for the semifinals tomorrow as they face the 5th seeded Northwestern Wildcats at 10 a.m. CST at Atkins Tennis Center.

Results No. 1 Illinois 4, No. 8 Michigan State 0

Doubles
1. P. Dabir/R. DeHeart (ILL) def. Andy Formanczyk/Nick Rinks(MSU)          8-5
2. C. Martin/R. Rowe (ILL) vs. Michael Flowers/Cameron Marshall (MSU)     5-3
3. E. Zeder/B. Davis (ILL) def. Anthony Stefani/Adam Monich (MSU)             8-2
Order of finish: 3, 1

Singles
1. #8 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. Andy Formanczyk (MSU)     6-4, 6-0
2. #24 GD Jones (ILL) vs. Cameron Marshall (MSU)         7-5, 5-1 (DNF)
3. Ruben Gonzales (ILL) vs. Nick Rinks (MSU)             6-3, 5-1 (DNF)
4. Chris Martin (ILL) def. Adam Monich (MSU)             6-1, 6-2
5. Pramod Dabir (ILL) def. Joe McWilliams (MSU)          6-1, 7-6 (5)
6. Ryan Rowe (ILL) vs. Mike Flowers (MSU)                6-2, 4-4 (DNF)
Order of finish: 1, 4, 5