March 20, 2007

Results

BATON ROUGE, La. ­ - The No. 6 Illinois men's tennis team dropped a heartbreaker on the road, as it lost by a score of 4-3 to the No. 10 LSU Tigers tonight in Baton Rouge. The Illini, who fell behind early after relinquishing the doubles point, were not able to pull off the come-from-behind victory in singles despite tough performances from its upperclassmen. Illinois drops to 10-4 (3-0 Big Ten) on the season, while LSU improved to 11-2, 3-1 in SEC contests.

"Very disappointing to lose today," head coach Brad Dancer said. "The score is not indicative of the effort the guys gave. I thought they fought hard. It just seems we made some of the same mistakes that has cost us matches before. Overall, LSU played well at certain positions, and were able to fight back in their matches when they needed it to capture the victory."

LSU wasted no time in taking control of the match, as they registered back-to-back victories in doubles action at No. 3 and 2 doubles. Looking to swing the momentum back in the Illini's favor, juniors Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe notched a win on court one to close out the doubles portion, wrapping up a convincing 8-4 victory against James Cluskey and Ken Skupski of LSU.

In singles, the Tigers handed Illinois another blow taking a 2-0 lead with a win at No. 6 to kickoff individual play. The Orange and Blue fired back to grab their first point behind the racquet of No. 6-ranked Anderson (ILL), who easily defeated No. 24 Skupski (LSU) in straights, 6-2, 6-1. Sophomore Marc Spicijaric (ILL) continued the Illini push taking care of No. 111 Kevin Dessauer (LSU) 6-4, 6-1, evening the match at 2-2.

From there, Illinois had its chances but fell behind again as Rowe dropped his match in the No. 2 slot despite leading in both sets, while junior Brandon Davis forced his match at No. 5 to a decisive third set. There, despite taking a wave of momentum with him into the third set after handing LSU's Cluskey a 6-2 defeat in the second frame, Davis could not hold on, eventually falling 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

Ending the contest on a high note, senior GD Jones outlasted Colt Gaston (LSU), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, to make the final score, 4-3.

Illinois will use the rest of its time in Louisiana hosting a free tennis clinic for the local youth of the New Orleans area on Friday, March 23. The Orange and Blue then return to the courts when they host Northwestern on Saturday, March 31, at 1 p.m. at the Atkins Tennis Center.

The match also will serve as a time for the Illini to recognize 100 years of men's tennis at the University of Illinois, as they will present the 16-member All-Century Team and honor the 1946 Big Ten championship team during the break between singles and doubles. All fans are invited to experience and celebrate this momentous milestone with the Illini tennis family on Saturday against the Wildcats.

TENNIS MATCH RESULTS
#10 LSU 4, #6 ILLINOIS, 3
MARCH 20, 2007
BATON ROUGE, LA.

Singles competition
1. #6 Kevin Anderson (ILL) def. #24 Ken Skupski (LSU), 6-2, 6-1
2. #44 Danny Bryan (LSU) def. #12 Ryan Rowe (ILL), 7-5, 6-4
3. GD Jones (ILL) def. Colt Gaston (LSU), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
4. Marc Spicijaric (ILL) def. #111 Kevin Dessauer (LSU), 6-4, 6-1
5. James Cluskey (LSU) def. Brandon Davis (ILL), 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
6. Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Jordan Knue (ILL), 6-4, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. Kevin Anderson/Ryan Rowe (ILL) def. #14 James Cluskey/Ken Skupski (LSU), 8-4
2. #5 Danny Bryan/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. GD Jones/Marc Spicijaric (ILL), 8-5
3. Kevin Dessauer/Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Brandon Davis/Jordan Knue (ILL), 8-3

Match notes
Doubles (3, 2, 1) Singles: (6, 1, 4, 2, 5, 3)