April 11, 2010
Box Score
URBANA, Ill. -
The 13th-ranked Illini men's tennis team (14-8, 6-0 Big Ten) posted its third shutout of the season with a 7-0 sweep of Iowa (10-7, 2-4) Sunday afternoon at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex. The win moves Illinois into a tie for first place in the Big Ten standings with Ohio State, which knocked off Michigan earlier today.
"It was a good match for our guys today in that they did a good job of staying in the moment, for the most part, and getting through things," head coach Brad Dancer said. "We've talked a lot about how if you apply pressure and sustain that pressure, then over time, you're going to break opponents down. Iowa is a really spirited team and as the matches progressed today, I think we got the best of them. There were some matchups that were a little bit awkward for us in some ways, but the thing I'm most proud of is that we were able to gain momentum as the match went on and sustain that pressure and as a coach you always want to see that."
The Illini, winners of four of their last five matches, claimed victories on every court in both singles and doubles for the first time this season. No. 35 sophomore Dennis Nevolo and No. 57 senior Marek Czerwinski each tallied their 22nd wins of the season, while No. 85 junior Abe Souza collected his team-and career-best 28th win and seventh straight. Freshman Bruno Abdelnour clinched the win for the Illini to improve to 6-1 in dual matches, followed by junior Johnny Hamui, whose won six of his last eight matches, and classmate Connor Roth closed out the afternoon with a come-from-behind victory for his career-best 17th win of the year.
Illinois will hit the road next weekend for its final regular-season road matches beginning at Penn State on Friday, April 16 at 2 p.m. CT.
Match Results
#13 Illinois 7, #60 Iowa 0
Singles competition
1. #35 Dennis Nevolo (ILL) def. Marc Bruche (IOWA) 6-1, 6-3
2. #57 Marek Czerwinski (ILL) def. Nikita Zotov (IOWA) 6-1, 6-2
3. #85 Abe Souza (ILL) def. Reinoud Haal (IOWA) 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-4)
4. Johnny Hamui (ILL) def. Will Vasos (IOWA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
5. Connor Roth (ILL) def. Tommy McGeorge (IOWA) 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-3
6. Bruno Abdelnour (ILL) def. Tom Mroziewicz (IOWA) 6-3, 0-6, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Abe Souza/Marek Czerwinski (ILL) def. Will Vasos/Tommy McGeorge (IOWA) 8-6
2. Connor Roth/Stephen Hoh (ILL) def. Marc Bruche/Tom Mroziewicz (IOWA) 8-4
3. #60 Johnny Hamui/Dennis Nevolo (ILL) def. Nikita Zotov/Garret Dunn (IOWA) 8-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,2,6,4,3,5)
