Kentucky No Match for Illinois; Illini Prevail 7-0

Wednesday, April 4

Urbana, Ill.

3:00 PM

University of Illinois

Kentucky

April 4, 2007 | Men's Tennis

April 4, 2007

Results

URBANA, Ill. - The No. 8 Illinois men's tennis team easily dismissed No. 59 Kentucky, 7-0, at the Atkins Tennis Center today. With the win, Illinois improved to 12-5 on the season and extended its home win streak to 12.

"We are just taking every match one at a time," head coach Brad Dancer said. "We have been moving the lineup around with different people injured, and are just doing the best we can to put people in positions to win matches. Overall, today I thought the guys did a good of adjusting in their individual matches to get the win today against a talented Kentucky team."

The Illini have yet to drop a match on their home court since falling to Stanford, 5-2, on March 29, 2005. That loss snapped a 16-match home win streak at the time.

Winning its third straight doubles point in dual competition, the Illini swept the Wildcats for a strong start to the afternoon. Senior GD Jones and sophomore Marc Spicijaric (ILL) took care of business on court two to open the match, defeating Kenny Hodge and Jorge Jorge (UK), 8-2. On court one, the No. 10-ranked pair of juniors Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe were un-phased by UK's Peter Bjork and Marcus Smith, 8-3, to clinch the doubles point, while junior Brandon Davis and freshman Jordan Knue (ILL) upended Roman Ogarkov and Shane Collins (UK), 8-5, to complete the sweep.

In singles, the Wildcats unfortunately suffered a pair of match-ending injuries, resulting in retirements on both court one and five to fall behind, 3-0, early in the match.

With the end in sight, Spicijaric (ILL), who had been cruising through is match on court four, clinched the dual win with his 6-3, 6-0 handling of Collins (UK).

"At this point in the season, we are looking to use each match to get better and crisper," Dancer said. "The biggest thing from here on out is staying healthy, getting Ruben back and into playing speed and making sure that the entire team is on the same page."

Wrapping up the Illini highlights, defending NCAA doubles champion Rowe, who entered the contest ranked 15^th in the country, looked in top form in the No. 3 spot as he dismissed Jorge (UK) 6-0, 6-1. Jones, who had a shaky start, settled into his match at No. 2 singles to outlast Peter Bjork (UK), 1-6, 6-4, 10-5, while Knue (ILL) gutted out his second dual victory of the season with a 4-6, 6-4, 10-6, come-from-behind win against Hodge at No. 6.

"I think every match Jordan comes out is a learning experience for him," Dancer said. "He and GD both are learning things out there, and for GD relearning things out there, and were able to adjust to their opponent to pull out the win."

Illinois hits the road for an important part of its season, as it is set to take on the heart of its Big Ten schedule. Illinois opens the road matches against No. 19 Michigan on April 6, followed by a contest against No. 34 Penn State on April 8.

A full preview of Illinois' weekend opponents will be available on fightingillini.com later this week.

Tennis Match Results

April 4, 2007

Urbana, Ill.

#8 Illinois 7, #59 Kentucky 0

Singles competition

1. #5 Kevin Anderson (ILL) def. Marcus Sundh (UK) 4-1, retired

2. GD Jones (ILL) def. Peter Bjork (UK) 1-6, 6-4, 10-5

3. #15 Ryan Rowe (ILL) def. Jorge Jorge (UK) 6-0, 6-1

4. Marc Spicijaric (ILL) def. Shane Collins (UK) 6-3, 6-0

5. Brandon Davis (ILL) def. Roman Ogarkov (UK) 6-4, 2-1, retired

6. Jordan Knue (ILL) def. Kenny Hodge (UK) 4-6, 6-4, 10-6