May 22, 2008

TULSA, Okla. - The No. 11 ranked duo of senior Ryan Rowe and sophomore Billy Heiser advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 2008 NCAA Doubles Championship in Tulsa, Okla., Thursday evening with a come from behind victory over the No. 12 ranked LSU tandem of James Cluskey and Michael Venus, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Earlier in the day, Rowe and fellow senior Ruben Gonzales gave it their all in singles action, but both fell short in the round of 32.

"We started out a little shaky in doubles this evening, but the guys did a great job of fighting back and pulling through," head coach Brad Dancer said. "Heiser did a better job of executing in the second and third sets and that was very important in the match today."

The Illini tandem fell behind early, dropping the first set 2-6. The duo regrouped and took charge of the match, taking the second set 6-3 and cruising to a 6-4 decision in the third set to advance to the Sweet 16. Rowe, the 2006 NCAA doubles champion and 2007 doubles runner-up with former partner Kevin Anderson, is making his third straight appearance in the Sweet 16. A win tomorrow to advance to the Elite Eight would give Heiser All-America honors for the first time and Rowe for the third time.

Rowe and Heiser will square off against the fourth-ranked Mississippi tandem of Jonas Berg and Erling Tveit Friday at 4:30 p.m. CT. Berg and Tveit defeated Nathan Byrnes and Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in their round of 32 match.

Earlier in the day in singles play, No. 21 ranked Rowe came out firing on all cylinders to take the first set over No. 6 seed Robert Farah (USC), 6-2. However, Rowe's bid for his first singles All-America honor fell short, as Farah came back to take the next two sets 6-0, 7-6 (5).

In the other singles match on the afternoon for the Illini, Gonzales fell behind early to No. 57 Enrique Olivares from East Tennessee State, losing the first set 4-6. Gonzalez stormed back to win the second set 6-4 and force a third set, but he could not overcome Olivares in the deciding set, falling 4-6.

"We had a couple of heartbreaking losses in singles today," Dancer added. "There were plenty of opportunities, our guys fought hard, but could not pull through especially with the tough windy conditions, which was unfortunate."

Live scoring and live video of Friday's action can be found at the Tulsa Hurricane website, www.tulsahurricane.com. A complete recap of the Illinois match can be found at fightingillini.com at the conclusion of play.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
TULSA, Okla. 05/22/08

Singles
No. 6 Robert Farah (USC) def. No. 21 Ryan Rowe (ILL); 2-6, 6-0, 7-6(5)
No. 57 Enrique Olivares (ETN) def. No. 42 Ruben Gonzales (ILL); 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

Doubles
No. 11 Ryan Rowe/Billy Heiser (ILL) def. No. 12 James Cluskey/Michael Venus (LSU); 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.