March 19, 2010
Photo Gallery - Ball State
Photo Gallery - Illinois State
Box Score
URBANA, Ill. - The 11th-ranked Illini men's tennis team improved to 9-5 on the year with wins over Ball State, 7-0, and Illinois State, 6-1 Friday afternoon at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex. Junior Abe Souza and freshman Stephen Hoh each extended their singles winning streaks to five straight, while head coach Brad Dancer earned wins No. 98 and 99 at Illinois.
"We keep seeing some great leadership from our guys," Dancer said. "It was particularly interesting today to see (Dennis) Nevolo play at a really strong level throughout the day, while at the same time, Marek (Czerwinski) was really sharp in singles. We saw some improved stuff from Hoh today, Souza grinded out some matches and (Bruno) Abdelnour gets out there today and picks up four victories between singles and doubles. Every match from here on out is going to be a tough match for us. We play at Wisconsin on Sunday and then come back home for a big match with Stanford on Tuesday. We just have to keep following the lead of our upperclassmen and I think as long as we keep doing that we'll be in good shape."
Making their home debut on the outdoor courts, the Illini tallied their second shutout of the season in the first match of the day against Ball State, which had won eight of its last nine entering today's match. Illinois took control early on by securing the doubles point, before going on to sweep all six singles matches. After a short break in between matches, the Illini picked up right where they left off against in-state rival Illinois State, as they swept doubles and claimed five of six in singles. For the day, Souza's two singles wins boosted his season total to a team-best 21, while Czerwinski and Nevolo are tied with 17 apiece and junior Connor Roth extended his career-best mark to 14 wins thus far this season.
Illinois returns to action this Sunday, March 21 at Big Ten foe Wisconsin at Noon CT. The match will air live on the Big Ten Network.
Match #1
#11 Illinois 7, Ball State 0
Singles competition
1. #36 Dennis Nevolo (ILL) def. Eduardo Pavia (BSU) 6-1, 6-2
2. Johnny Hamui (ILL) def. Cliff Morrison (BSU) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5)
3. #77 Abe Souza (ILL) def. Andres Monroy (BSU) 6-1, 6-1
4. Stephen Hoh (ILL) def. Alexandre Brym (BSU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Bruno Abdelnour (ILL) def. Dalton Albertin (BSU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
6. Connor Roth (ILL) def. Shaun Bussert (BSU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
Doubles competition
1. Eduardo Pavia/Dalton Albertin (BSU) def. Abe Souza/Marek Czerwinski (ILL) 8-6
2. Dennis Nevolo/Stephen Hoh (ILL) def. Andres Monroy/Zane Smith (BSU) 8-3
3. Johnny Hamui/Bruno Abdelnour (ILL) def. Alexandre Brym/Derek Carpenter (BSU) 8-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,4,1,2,5,6)
Match #2
#11 Illinois 6, Illinois State 1
Singles competition
1. #36 Dennis Nevolo (ILL) def. Alexander Pelaez (ISU) 6-3, 6-2
2. #64 Marek Czerwinski (ILL) def. Filip Miljevic (ISU) 6-3, 6-3
3. #77 Abe Souza (ILL) def. Timon Reichelt (ISU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1)
4. Stephen Hoh (ILL) def. Matej Zlatkovic (ISU) 6-4, 6-3
5. Bruno Abdelnour (ILL) def. Xavier Riart-Ferrer (ISU) 6-1, 6-3
6. Skip Span (ISU) def. Connor Roth (ILL) 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 1-0 (10-5)
Doubles competition
1. #68 Marek Czerwinski/Stephen Hoh (ILL) def. Matej Zlatkovic/Timon Reichelt (ISU) 8-3
2. Abe Souza/Connor Roth (ILL) def. Alexander Pelaez/Michael Hobson (ISU) 8-3
3. Dennis Nevolo/Bruno Abdelnour (ILL) def. Filip Miljevic/Skip Span (ISU) 8-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (5,1,2,4,6,3)
