Feb. 28, 2007

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The No. 7 Illinois men's tennis team will begin its journey to recapture the Big Ten Conference crown this weekend when they travel to East Lansing, Mich., to take on Michigan State on Friday, March 2, at 6 p.m. (CST). The Illini, who are 7-3 on the season, will be looking to end a two-match skid after they finished the USTA/ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship with a 1-2 record, tying for seventh overall.

"It seems like a long time since National Indoors, but we are definitely ready to get back on the courts and start competing again," head coach Brad Dancer said. "Michigan State is an improved team, and they played No. 25 Minnesota tough, so it is going to be a good challenge for us to start off the Big Ten season."

A full recap of the match can be found at fightingillini.com following the conclusion of the match.

STATE OF THE ILLINI
During an off week for the Illinois men's tennis team, national recognition did not escape the Illini. The Orange and Blue showed that their tough schedule paid off, earning a ranking of seventh as a team in the most recent Fila poll, announced the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Leading the team are juniors Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe, who garnered top-10 national rankings in singles, helping the Orange and Blue join No. 1 Georgia as the only team in the country with two netters among the nation's top 10.

Anderson, who boasts a singles record of 12-4 on the season, including a 6-3 mark against nationally-ranked opponents, boasts a No. 7 ranking in the most recent Fila poll, moving up 16 spots from his No. 23 preseason notch. Rowe on the other hand, has been one of the Illini's most consistent competitors on the court, posting a 15-5 singles record to move up one spot to No. 10. On the season, he is 8-1 in dual play and 8-4 against ranked opponents.

In doubles, due to lack of competition and dual-match play, the defending national champion duo of Anderson and Rowe are unranked. Beginning the season off at No. 1 doubles for Illinois, the tandem of Anderson and junior Ruben Gonzales, however, rang in the polls at No. 10.

ALMOST PERFECT
Illinois has been almost unstoppable in Big Ten openers, winning their last nine. Overall, since the NCAA turned to a seven-point scoring system in 1993, Illinois is 10-4 in league debuts. That dominance has not just been held to conference openers, as the Illini, prior to dropping a regular-season contest to Ohio State in 2006, and then again losing in the finals of the Big Ten Tournament to the Buckeyes that same year, had won a total of 55 straight conference matches from Feb. 23, 2002-April 2, 2006.

RETURNING HOME
The trip to East Lansing, Mich., will not only be a start to the Big Ten Conference season for the Illini, but it will be a homecoming for head coach Brad Dancer. A native of Coldwater, Mich., Dancer once walked on the Michigan State campus as a player on the men's tennis team, graduating in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration. For the Spartans, Dancer played in the No. 1 singles spot and earned All-Big Ten Conference honors as captain for his squad his senior campaign, while also qualifying for the NCAA individual championship that same year.

MICHIGAN STATE'S RESUME
The Spartans had a great start to a rebuilding season and to their Big Ten Conference schedule, hosting both Minnesota and Purdue in their opening conference matches. Against the Golden Gophers, MSU played a tough match, but eventually fell to the 25th-ranked Gophers, 4-3. Despite the loss, Michigan State made a statement, taking one of the top-ranked teams in the country down to the wire. Against Purdue, Michigan State again put itself in position for a victory, but another late-match loss at No. 6 singles ended those plans, as they dropped their second straight match by a score of 4-3. On the season, MSU is 6-6 and 0-2 in league affairs.

Leading the charge for Michigan State is Nick Rinks, a Midwest native. Rinks is 6-4 on the young season, tallying that record solely in the No. 1 singles slot. In conference action and against nationally-ranked opponents, Rinks is 2-0.

COMMON BONDS
Growing up on the hard courts of the Midwest, Ryan Rowe, a native of Moline, Ill., and Ruben Gonzales from Terre Haute, Ind., both grew up playing alongside and against Nick Rinks (Kalamazoo, Mich.) of Michigan State. Rowe has been a common opponent of Rink since his junior years, while Gonzales used to play doubles with the Spartan. On Friday, however, the three of them will meet on very different terms, as Illinois looks to regain its status as the top team in the league, while Michigan State is looking for its first conference win and a chance to remain above .500 on the year. Should the lineups follow past precedent, neither of the netters will meet on the singles court, as Rinks would likely face No. 6 Kevin Anderson at No. 1 singles. In doubles, however, Rowe and Anderson are slated to face Rinks and partner Adam Monich in the No. 1 spot.

TOUGH COMPETITION
The Big Ten Conference in recent years has been Illinois for the taking. Finishing runner-up in 1996, the Illini then went on a tear through the league, winning a total of eight conference titles from 1996-2006, finishing second (1996, 2001, 2006) in the years it did not clinch the championship. In 2007, however, the journey to recapturing the conference title will not be as easy, as the depth of the league is the best its been in awhile. Overall, the competition is looking to make the road to the championship a lot harder this season. Currently, the Illini are the second-highest ranked team in the Big Ten behind No. 2 Ohio State, but are followed by No. 22 Michigan and No. 24 Minnesota in the top 25. In the end, with one of the strongest leagues in recent years, Illinois will have its worked cut out for it as it begins Big Tens this weekend on the road.