Sept. 30, 2005
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -
Six members of the University of Illinois men's tennis team will travel to Tulsa, Okla., to compete in the Polo Ralph Lauren ITA All-American Championships. This is the first tournament for four of the six Illini since the Napa Valley Invitational three weeks ago. The University of Tulsa is hosting the event at the Case Tennis Center, the site of the 2004 and 2008 NCAA men's tennis championships. Singles and doubles qualifying will take place October 3-5 and both main draws will begin Oct. 6 and conclude Oct. 9.
The Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships offer the first national singles and doubles titles of the 2005-06 collegiate tennis season, and are followed by the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November and the third event is the season-ending NCAA Championships in May.
"We'll take it one point at a time," said Coach Brad Dancer. "It has a been a stressful week of preparation for our guys. Hopefully the preparation will pay off."
Senior Ryler DeHeart will put his No. 1-ranking on the line as he enters the main draw as the No. 1 seed. Last year, Mississippi's No. 1-seeded Catalin Gard won the singles title, becoming the first No. 1 seed to do so since 1991. Dancer isn't worried about any added pressure on DeHeart.
"Ryler doesn't feel that kind of pressure," Dancer said. "He is unique in that he feels pressure to execute during a match but he doesn't get caught up with the hype off the tennis court."
Sophomore and 18th-ranked Kevin Anderson, who recently was abroad with the South African Davis Cup team, will also be in the 64-player main singles draw. No. 11 GD Jones, the Illini's lone junior, was slated to play in the singles draw but has since withdrawn from next week's competition.
Other Fighting Illini competing in the 128-player singles qualifying rounds that feed into the main draw are sophomores Ruben Gonzales, ranked No. 107, No. 123 Monte Tucker and No. 115 freshman Marc Spicijaric. Senior Pramod Dabir will join his teammates in the qualifying tournament as well.
The Illini are hoping to contend in doubles with the 15th-ranked duo of DeHeart and Dabir in the doubles main draw. The Orange and Blue have one doubles team in the doubles qualifying draw, however, the team has yet to be determined.
