April 6, 2007
Results
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The No. 8 Illinois men's tennis team suffered a stunning upset at the hands of No. 19 Michigan, 5-2, at the Varsity Tennis Center tonight to drop its first conference contest of the season. Against the Wolverines, the Illini claimed two tough wins to clinch the doubles point but were unable to use the momentum in singles to claim the victory.
"It was a very disappointing loss," head coach Brad Dancer said. "After winning the doubles point, I thought we put ourselves in a great position to win. It just comes down to we just didn't get the job done today when we had the chance. Now, we have to rebound and get ready for a good Penn State team on Sunday."
Senior GD Jones and sophomore Marc Spicijaric (ILL) gave the Illini an early lead in doubles on court two, disposing of the No. 35-ranked Ryan Heller and Andrew Mazlin (UM), 8-6. Michigan returned the favor shortly after, tallying a win on court three by a mirroring score to setup the deciding match at No. 1.
With the same competitive air of an NCAA Championships semifinal or final, the 10th-ranked pair of Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe were challenged all the way to the final point, but prevailed 9-8(1) over the third-ranked duo of Brian Hung and Matko Maravic (UM). The Illini tandem handed Hung and Matko only their sixth loss of the season.
With the doubles point in hand, Illinois was looking to continue its push in the match. In the current circumstances, the Orange and Blue had already put the Wolverines on their heels in the contest as Michigan had only dropped the doubles point in four of their 19 matches this season.
In singles, fifth-ranked Anderson extended the lead for Illinois as he dismissed No. 50 Hung quickly 6-1, 6-1, giving Illinois unfortunately its last win of the evening.
From that point on, showing a never-quit attitude, Michigan used the energy of a record-setting crowd of almost 500 fans to pull themselves back into the match.
Michigan rattled off five straight victories down the stretch, clinching the dual match when Steve Peretz took down Illinois' Davis, 6-4, 6-3.
With the loss, Illinois dropped to 11-6 overall, and 4-1 in Big Ten action, while Michigan improved to 15-4, 6-1 in league affairs.
Illinois looks to return to the win column in its next outing as it travels to University Park, Pa., to take on Penn State on Easter Sunday, April 8, at 11 a.m. CT, noon local time at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center.
Match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- # 5 Kevin Anderson (ILL) d. #50 Brian Hung, 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 -- #68 Matko Maravic (U-M) d. #15 Ryan Rowe, 6-7(4), 7-6(8), 1-0(7)
No. 3 -- Ryan Heller (U-M) d. GD Jones, 6-3, 7-6(3)
No. 4 -- Andrew Mazlin (U-M) d. Marc Spicijaric, 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 -- Steve Peretz (U-M) d. Brandon Davis, 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 -- George Navas (U-M) Jordan Knue, 6-1, 7-6(8)
Doubles
No. 1 -- #10 Anderson/Rowe (ILL) d. #3 Hung/Maravic, 9-8(1)
No. 2 -- Jones/Spicijaric (ILL) d. #35 Heller/Mazlin, 8-6
No. 3 - Navas/Sroczynski (U-M) d. Davis/Knue, 8-6
Order of Finish:
Doubles 2-3-1, Singles 1-4-3-6-5-2
