April 14, 2011

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The No. 17 Illini men's tennis team (12-8, 4-2 Big Ten) will conclude its regular season road schedule this weekend at Michigan (11-8, 4-3) on Saturday and Michigan State (15-7, 1-6) on Sunday. Both matches are slated to begin at 11 a.m. CT. The Wolverines lead the all-time series, 60-31-3, though the Illini have won 17 of the last 19 matches. Against Michigan State, the alma mater of head coach Brad Dancer, Illinois leads the all-time series, 51-28, and has won 18 straight over the Spartans since 1998.

Live scoring for the Michigan match will be available .

CAMPBELL/ITA NATIONAL RANKINGS
In new team rankings released Tuesday, Illinois dropped two spots to No. 17, while Michigan fell four places to No. 27 and Michigan State moved up three slots to No. 57. Individually, junior Dennis Nevolo led the way at No. 11 in singles, followed by seniors Abe Souza (No. 72) and Johnny Hamui (No. 119). In doubles, Souza checked in at No. 48 with Nevolo and No. 75 with Hamui.

BIG TEN STANDINGS
With just two weeks to go in the regular season, two teams remain undefeated in conference play including Indiana (20-4, 7-0) and Ohio State (22-2, 6-0). Minnesota (14-3, 5-1) sits alone in third place, followed by Illinois (12-8, 4-2) in fourth and Michigan (11-8, 4-3) in fifth. Rounding out the rest is Wisconsin (9-10, 3-3) in sixth, Iowa (8-8, 2-4) and Northwestern (11-9, 2-4) tied for seventh, Purdue (10-11, 1-6) and Michigan State (15-7, 1-6) tied for ninth and Penn State (10-13, 0-6) in 11th.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Michigan reached as high as No. 8 in the country in early March after recording a string of top-25 wins over Wake Forest, Washington, Notre Dame and Duke. Since then, the Wolverines have gone 4-5 overall and 4-3 against Big Ten opponents, most recently defeating Penn State before falling to Ohio State. Evan King leads the way in singles at No. 24, while Jason Jung is No. 51. King is 16-3 in dual play playing exclusively at the No. 1 spot, while Jung has gone 14-5 at No. 2 singles and recently upset Ohio State's Blaz Rola, who was ranked third in the country. King and Jung also are the lone ranked Wolverine doubles duo, checking in at No. 23.

After opening the season 13-1, Michigan State has struggled in Big Ten play, going 1-6 through last weekend's matches with its first win coming against Penn State. Aaron Pfister leads team with a 26-3 mark, including 5-0 in the Big Ten and 16-0 in duals. Denis Bogatov and Ronnie Hulewicz each have tallied 18 wins, while Jason Norville and John Stratton lead the Spartans doubles attack, earning 20 and 21 wins, respectively.

LAST TIME OUT
After winning the doubles battle, the Illini needed all three singles wins to defeat Northwestern, 4-3, last Sunday at Atkins Tennis Center. Junior Roy Kalmanovich rallied back in No. 2 singles to clinch the win for the Illini with his 12th victory of the season. Illinois swept doubles for just the second time this season, as Souza and sophomore Stephen Hoh improved to 5-0 in Big Ten matches, while the tandems of Hamui and redshirt freshman Brian Alden and Kalmanovich and Nevolo each claimed their fourth win overall.

In singles, wins by Nevolo over No. 119 Joshua Graves, 6-4, 7-6 (6), and Souza over Chris Jackman, 6-4, 7-6 (2) extended the Illinois lead to 3-1. The Wildcats pulled within one with a win at the No. 6 spot, before Kalmanovich sealed the victory with a come-from-behind defeat of Spencer Wolf, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

UP NEXT
Illinois returns home next weekend to close out the regular season against Minnesota (April 22, 3 p.m.) and Wisconsin (April 24, Noon) at Atkins Tennis Center.