April 21, 2006
Complete Illinois Men's Tennis Notes in PDF Format
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STATE OF THE ILLINI
The fifth-ranked Fighting Illini tennis program (18-5, 7-1) concludes the regular season with a pair of matches against No. 39 Minnesota on Saturday and Iowa on Sunday. Both matches are scheduled to start at noon. The Illini are in second place in the Big Ten while the Gophers are in third place one match behind Illinois. Illinois' Ryler DeHeart earned his fourth career Big Ten Player of the Week honor after his 6-0 performance last week against opponents from Kentucky, Wisconsin and Northwestern. The Illini won all three of their road matches last week and enter this weekend riding a five match-winning streak. Seniors DeHeart and Pramod Dabir will be honored on Sunday when they take the court in their last regular season home match of their illustrious careers. Visit fightingillini.com for scoring updates throughout both matches.
SCOUTING THE GOPHERS
The 39th-ranked University of Minnesota men's tennis team saw its five-match winning streak come to an end last Sunday as Indiana upset the Gophers 5-2 in Minneapolis. Minnesota defeated Penn State 5-2 the day prior and enters Saturday's contest with a 12-10 (6-2 In the Big Ten) record.
Minnesota's 18 year veteran head coach David Geatz officially announced his retirement earlier in the month. Geatz is Minnesota's all-time winningest coach with a 308-154 (.667) record, Geatz has led the Golden Gophers to five Big Ten Championships and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances during his career.
The Gophers are led by Coach Gaetz's son D.J., who ranks No. 61. The junior is 19-13 on the year and has played all but two matches at the No. 1 position. Gaetz is 9-10 against ranked opponent this year with conference wins against Mark Barry (PSU), Chrisitain Tempke (NU), Nick Rinks (MSU) and Matko Maravic (UM). No. 120 Nic Edlefsen has contributed to the Gopher effort with a 20-16 overall singles record. The junior is likely to play the No. 3 position while junior Andres Osorio plays mainly at No. 2 and owns a 17-13 overall record. Senior Adrien DeBreyne and Raoul Schwark are Minnesota's No. 1 doubles team and have gone 11-9 together this year and 3-4 in Big Ten matches.
SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES
The Hawkeyes were defeated by No. 64 Indiana (7-0), but rebounded with an upset win against No. 54 Penn State (5-2) last week. The Hawkeyes enter their Saturday match against Purdue with a 6-11 overall record and 1-7 in the Big Ten. The Old Gold and Black has struggled on the road winning two of ten matches.
Sophomore Bart van Monsjou leads the Hawkeye attach, playing every match at No. 1 and compiling a 5-11 dual match record at the top spot. The Netherlands native teamed with fellow sophomore JP Ritchie to notch two doubles wins against Penn State and Indiana's top doubles teams last weekend. Freshman Christian Bierich has spent a majority of his time a the No. 2 singles position and owns a 7-10 dual match record and a team high 17 wins.
The Orange and Blue own a 57-22 record in the all-time series against the Hawkeyes. The Illini have fared well in recent years allowing only one point in the last six matches. The Illini have won nine consecutive meetings against Iowa, dating back to 1997.
CLIMBING THE LADDER
The Illini senior class of Pramod Dabir and Ryler DeHeart have their sights set on becoming the all-time winningest class in Illini history. Last year's graduating class of Chris Martin, Conner Murnighan and Evan Zeder set a new standard in Illinois tennis History with a record of 115-10, the most wins for a graduating class at Illinois. This year's class is currently 107-10. To tie the record the Illini need to win out the regular season and win a combination of six matches in the Big Ten and NCAA tournament.
Most Wins By Class
1. 2002-2005 115-10 (.920)
2. 2001-2004 112-13 (.896)
3. 2003-present 107-10 (.915)
4. 2000-2003 105-16 (.868)
5. 1999-2002 101-20 (.835)
MARK YOUR CALENDER
This year's NCAA Tennis Championship Selection Show will air on May 3 on ESPNEWS at (approx.) 7:30 p.m. CT.
SMASH MAGAZINE NAMES ILLINOIS A TOP TEN PROGRAM
Smash Magazine has named the University of Illinois as the eighth best Division I tennis program. The criteria is based on academic rank (from U.S. News & World Report's America Best Colleges) and their average year-end tennis ranking over the last five seasons. Stanford holds the number one spot followed by Duke, UCLA and CAL-Berkeley.
RECORD BREAKER
Ryler DeHeart broke Michael Calkins' 2004 Illinois school record of 123 career singles wins with a 6-3, 6-1 straight set defeat of Texas' 34th-ranked Callum Beale on March 10th in Austin. DeHeart is also zeroing in on the Illinois all-time combined wins list. The senior currently has 228 combined wins which is good enough for third best. Calkins' ranks first, finishing his career with 246 wins. Oliver Freelove is second with 234 combines wins.
DOUBLE DOMINANCE
The fourth-ranked duo of sophomores Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe continue to shake up the collegiate tennis scene with a 13-1 record at the No. 1 position. Anderson, 6'7" and Rowe, 6'5", have knocked off four ranked teams that were all ranked inside the top 45 at the time of the match. The sophomore duo also took down the 2005 NCAA doubles champions John Isner and Antonio Ruiz of Georgia 8-6. Ryler DeHeart and Ruben Gonzales also provide consistency, amassing a 11-3 dual match record. Lately, DeHeart has teamed with fellow senior Pramod Dabir to win six straight. The senior pair is ranked No. 12.
FAB FRESHMAN
The Illini's lone freshman Marc Spicijaric went 7-6 in the fall, but has turned up the heat in the dual match season. The former nationally ranked No. 1 singles and doubles junior has won all but one of his dual matches at Nos. 4, 5 and 6 including his first 11. He currently has a 14-2 dual match record, 21-8 overall.
ILLINI IN THE RANKINGS
The Illini rank No. 5 in the latest Fila Collegiate rankings administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll released on April 18. Georgia (22-0) maintains the top spot for the ninth straight week Following Georgia in the men's top 10 are: Pepperdine, Duke, Texas, Illinois, Baylor, Ohio State, UCLA, Virginia and Miami (Fla.). The team ranking uses a computer formula. For the first time in three years, the singles and doubles rankings are determined by a computer formula as well.
Individually, Ryler DeHeart, who was ranked No. 1 in the nation for the fall season is ranked No. 8 followed by 21st-ranked Kevin Anderson, 55th-ranked Ryan Rowe and 77nd-ranked GD Jones. The Illini also have four doubles teams ranked. Anderson and Rowe are No. 6, Pramod Dabir and DeHeart are No. 12, DeHeart and Ruben Gonzales are No. 27 and Dabir and Brandon Davis are No. 55.
ILLINI EARN PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARDS
• Ryler DeHeart won his second Player of the Week honor and the fourth of his career on April 19 after going 6-0 over opponents from Kentucky, Wisconsin and Northwestern. DeHeat won each of his singles tilts in the third set and his doubles point clinching win at Wisconsin proved to be the difference maker in the teams 4-3 victory.
• Ruben Gonzales claimed back-to-back singles victories and two doubles wins against Clemson and Harvard to earn Big Ten Player of the Week honors (Feb. 15) for the first time in his career just one week after GD Jones earned the accolade.
• GD Jones earned Player of the Week honors on Feb. 8 for his effort against Duke's top player. Jones stunned two-time All-American Ludovic Walter, then-ranked No. 9 in the nation, in a gritty three-set match in Durham, N.C.
• Senior Ryler DeHeart garnered his third career Big Ten Player of the Week honor on Jan. 18 for his effort at the Mexico Invitational. All four of his singles victories resulted in straight-set wins from opponents from California and Georgia Tech. In addition, he won all five of his doubles tilts.
ILLINI IN THE BIG TEN
The Illini's streak of 86 straight against conference opponents in the regular season, which dates back to 1997, came to a halt with a 5-2 loss at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes on April 2. During that streak the Orange and Blue have won nine regular season titles and eight conference tournament titles in the last nine years.
HOME COOKIN'
Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana has proved to be a seventh man for the Orange and Blue in recent years. Last season, Kentucky snapped Illinois' school record 38-match win streak on April 6. The Illini have gone 134-26 (.838) at Atkins Tennis Center since it was built in 1991. Since March 30, 2002, the Illini are a remarkable 54-2 on their home court.
UP NEXT
The Illini will head to Minneapolis where the University of Minnesota will play host to the Big Ten Tournament. Illini has secured a bye in the first round and will begin play on Friday, April 28. Visit gophersports.com or bigten.org for more tournament information.
