Oct. 26, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -Three members of the Illinois men's tennis team concluded action at the Crimson Tide Invitational today. The format of the tournament featured eight draws of 16 participants and two draws of 32 teams in doubles. In the Johnny Musso singles bracket, junior Meedo El Tabakh took home his first collegiate tournament title with a straight sets victory in the final round over Clemson's Kevin Fleck, 6-3, 6-2.
El Tabakh's road to the finals began with a straight sets win over UAB's Tyrone Ewels in the Round of 16. In the quarterfinals, El Tabakh had a three set victory over Gera Boryachinskly of Clemson, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5. The Illini continued his run in the semifinals downing Alabama's Andrew Felsenthal 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4.
"Overall, we had a really great, quality tournament this weekend," Illinois head coach Brad Dancer said. "We got everything we were looking for out of this event, with the highlight of Meedo capturing his first collegiate tournament title."
In the Bear Bryant singles draw, sophomore Waylon Chin dropped his first round match but fired back with wins over Georgia Southern's Joris De Weerdt, 6-4, 6-2, and Vanderbilt's Bryant Salcedo, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), to advance to the consolation final. In the consolation final, Chin battled hard but fell short to Alabama's Billy Mertz, 6-3, 6-4.
Sophomore Abe Souza, in the Joe Namath singles draw, picked up a first round victory over Virginia Tech's Patrick Daciek in a tough three-setter, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Souza battled hard in tough match up with Alabama's Michael Jung, falling short, 7-6 (6), 6-3. Souza rebounded quickly taking a straight sets victory over Yannick Yoshizawa from the University of South Florida, 6-4, 6-4 on the final day of the tournament.
"It was great to see Chin bounce back and win some key matches in the consolation draw," Dancer added. "Souza also had a great tournament picking up quality wins."
In the red doubles draw, the No.7-seeded duo Chin and Souza won their first round match against Chattanooga's duo of Peter Sauska and Pavel Vostrikov, 8-6. In the round of 16, the Illini duo dropped a close match to Jacksoville State's Bernie Bachino and Gustavo Holz, 8-6.
The Illini are back in action next weekend with part of the squad heading to the Big Ten Singles Tournament in Madison, Wis., while others will travel to the Florida State Invitational in Tallahassee, Fla. Stay tuned to fightingillini.com for complete coverage of Illinois' results.
