Jan. 23, 2009
Box Score
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - The No. 15 Illinois men's tennis team suffered a tough 6-1 loss to No. 5 Virginia Friday night at the Boyd Tinsley Courts in Charlottesville, Va. The Orange and Blue had a quick setback in doubles to trail early, 1-0, and from there a resilient Virginia singles lineup proved to be too much down the stretch.
"We were out competed and out played today in both doubles and singles," head coach Brad Dancer said. "Early on in doubles we didn't finish our serve well and that got the best of us. We were unable to match their speed and intensity throughout the night. In all of our singles matches, our guys tried to match their intensity over the course of the matches and part of that falls on us as coaching staff to prepare them better. We have a couple weeks off from competition and we'll use that to work on every aspect of our games to continue to improve."
With the loss, Illinois dropped to 3-1 on the season, while Virginia improved to 2-0 on the year.
In doubles, the Illini tandem of Marc Spicijaric and Brian Livingston suffered their first loss of the season, falling to Virginia's Lee Singer and Drew Courtney, 8-5. At No. 2 doubles, the freshmen duo of Dennis Nevolo and Ruan Roelofse battled into a tiebreaker with No. 27-ranked Dominic Inglot and Michael Shabaz (VIR), in the end the Cavaliers prevailed 9-8 (3). Virginia completed the sweep with a 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles to take an early 1-0 lead.
It did not get any easier for the Illini in singles play, as the resilient Cavaliers notched wins at Nos. 1, 3, 4, and 6 to take a 5-0 lead. At No. 5 singles, junior Marek Czerwinski got the Illini on the board as he battled to a third set with No. 108 Drew Courtney. After dropping the first set, 6-2, Czerwinski regained his composure taking the second set in a 7-6 (4) tiebreaker. In the third-set super tiebreaker the Birmingham, Mich., native downed Courtney 10-5 to take the win.
Illinois returns home for a pair of matches against No. 35 Duke (Feb. 6) and No. 8 Tennessee (Feb. 7). First serve is set for 6 p.m. for both matches at the Atkins Tennis Center. Live scoring will be available and a full recap of each match will be offered at the conclusion of play at fightingillini.com
Match Results
1/23/2009 at Charlottesville, Va.
Boyd Tinsley Indoor Courts
#5 Virginia 6, #15 Illinois 1
Doubles Competition
1) #3 Sanam Singh/Houston Barrick (VIR) def. Marek Czerwinski / Billy Heiser (ILL) 8-5
2) #27 Dominic Inglot / Michael Shabaz (VIR) def. Ruan Roelofse / Dennis Nevolo (ILL) 9-8 (3)
3) Lee Singer/ Drew Courtney (VIR) def. Marc Spicijaric / Brian Livingston (ILL) 8-5
Singles Competition
1) #43 Dominic Inglot (VIR) def. #23 Roy Kalmanovich (ILL) 6-1, 6-4
2) #11 Michael Shabaz (VIR) def. #41 Dennis Nevolo (ILL) 6-3, 6-7 (9), 6-4
3) #24 Sanam Singh (VIR) def. #101 Marc Spicijaric (ILL) 6-2, 6-1
4) #68 Houston Barrick (VIR) def. Ruan Roelofse (ILL) 6-4, 6-1
5) Marek Czerwinski (ILL) def. #108 Drew Courtney (VIR) 2-6, 7-6 (4), 1-0 (10-5)
6) #109 Lee Singer (VIR) def. Billy Heiser (ILL) 7-6 (5), 6-4
Order of Finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,3,4,6,5,2)
