April 8, 2009
Box Score
URBANA, Ill. - The No. 11 Illinois men's tennis team won its eighth-straight match at home this afternoon, taking a 4-3 win over the No. 14 Kentucky Wildcats at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex. This afternoon's match marked the first time the Illinois men's tennis team had the opportunity to play on the newly-constructed courts and the Illini made the most of it, controlling the match from start to finish, taking an early 1-0 lead, after securing the crucial doubles point.
"We can take a lot of positives from today," Illinois head coach Brad Dancer said. "We took control early, making adjustments to our serving in doubles and that made all the difference in the world this afternoon. In singles, our team was focused on all six courts from the start."
With the victory, the Illini improve to 17-5 overall, while the Wildcats drop to 14-8.
"This was one of our best matches from a cohesiveness standpoint of everybody getting the right start in all of the doubles and all of the singles," Dancer added. "For us to be an elite eight team, that's going to be contending for titles, we have to carry through all of our matches."
The Illini started off strong in doubles, maintaining the tempo on all three courts. The No. 49-ranked Illini tandem of senior Marc Spicijaric and junior Marek Czerwinski struck first, quickly taking care of Kentucky's Graeme Dyce and Eric Quigley, 8-4 on court two. The Wildcats countered at No. 3 doubles as the Kentucky duo of Alberto Gonzalez and Alex Musialek took an 8-5 win over Illinois' Waylon Chin and Brian Livington.
At No. 1 doubles, it was a battle between two top-twenty ranked tandems, as the No. 18-ranked Illinois duo of Dennis Nevolo and Ruan Roelofse played some of their best doubles all season against the No. 19-ranked Kentucky duo of Bruno Agostinelli and Brad Cox. In the end, Nevolo and Roelofse conquered taking the match 9-8 (3), giving Illinois the pivotal doubles point and an early lead.
The Illini did not relinquish the lead the rest of the afternoon. Nevolo, ranked No. 39 in the nation in singles, added to the overall total with a straight sets 6-2, 6-2 win over the Wildcats' Brad Cox at No. 3 singles. Kentucky took a win at No. 4 singles, bringing the overall score to 2-1.
At No. 2 singles, No. 42-ranked Roy Kalmanovich (ILL) persevered in the first set tiebreaker 7-6 (7) over Kentucky's Eric Quigley. Kalmanovich maintained his composure in the second set, cruising to a 6-3 win, to take the match.
Junior Marek Czerwinski clinched the win for the Orange and Blue at No. 6 singles with a straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory over the Wildcats' Alberto Gonzalez. With the win, Czerwinski is now 12-3 in dual matches this season.
The Wildcats notched wins at Nos. 5 and 1 singles in the closing minutes of the match.
Up next, Illinois welcomes Big Ten foes Penn State and Ohio State into town this weekend. The Illini are tied for first in the conference, with an unblemished 6-0 Big Ten record. The Illini (17-5, 6-0) welcome the 61st-ranked Nittany Lions (10-9, 3-3) into town on Saturday, April 11, followed by a matchup against the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (23-1, 6-0) on Sunday, April 12. Both matches are slated for 12 p.m. CT starts and will be held at the Atkins Tennis Center. Live scoring will be available at fightingillini.com.
Match Results
University of Kentucky vs. University of Illinois
4/8/2009 at Urbana, Ill.
(Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex)
#11 University of Illinois 4, #14 University of Kentucky 3
Singles competition
1. #5 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) def. #79 Marc Spicijaric (ILL) 6-4, 7-5
2. #42 Roy Kalmanovich (ILL) def. Eric Quigley (UK) 7-6 (9-7), 6-3
3. #39 Dennis Nevolo (ILL) def. Brad Cox (UK) 6-2, 6-2
4. Alex Musialek (UK) def. Waylon Chin (ILL) 6-4, 6-1
5. Graeme Dyce (UK) def. Ruan Roelofse (ILL) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
6. Marek Czerwinski (ILL) def. Alberto Gonzalez (UK) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
Doubles competition
1. #18 Dennis Nevolo/Ruan Roelofse (ILL) def. #19 Bruno Agostinelli/Brad Cox (UK) 9-8 (7-3)
2. #49 Marek Czerwinski/Marc Spicijaric (ILL) def. Graeme Dyce/Eric Quigley (UK) 8-4
3. Alberto Gonzalez/Alex Musialek (UK) def. Waylon Chin/Brian Livingston (ILL) 8-5
Match Notes:
University of Kentucky 14-8; National ranking #14
University of Illinois 17-5; National ranking #11
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,4,2,6,5,1)
