March 31, 2007

Results |  100 Years Celebration: Illinois vs. Northwestern  |  100 Year Celebration  |  Illinois v. Northwestern 

The win improved Illinois to 7-0 at home in 2007, extended its home-match winning streak to 11 dating back to April of 2006, improved its mark to 6-4 against ranked opponents and kept the Illini perfect in conference tilts. 

"I thought the team did a great job of adjusting to the conditions and the wind," head coach Brad Dancer said. "Ryan used the slice a little bit more in his match and I thought Marc did a good job of getting after return of serve. Overall a team effort."

On hand for the 100 years celebration were All-Century Team members Ryler DeHeart, Cary Franklin, Jeff Laski, honorary team captain Chris Martin, Phil Stolt and Brian Wilson.  Honored in between doubles and singles, the team represents a long-line of tennis history at the U of I and were welcomed home by Illini alumni and fans with a warm ovation.

"It's a special and unique event for our team to get to experience," Dancer said about the ceremony. "It's important for our guys to see where this program began and to have an appreciation for those players who laid the foundation for Illinois tennis and still bleed Orange and Blue to this day."

Prior to the ceremony, juniors Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe kicked of the day strong as they added Northwestern's No. 54-ranked Willy Lock and Matt Christian to their list of victims, defeating the Wildcat pair, 8-3, on court one. The defending national champions improved their overall mark to 9-2 on the season and have won their last seven, four of those against ranked opponents.

Clinching the doubles point for the Illini were junior Brandon Davis and freshman Jordan Knue at No. 3 doubles. The Illini duo started off shaky, falling behind 4-0.  From there, the Orange and Blue tandem worked their way back into the match behind solid net play and tough serving to prevail 8-6 over Christian Tempke and Juan Gomez (NU). Sealing the Fighting Illini sweep, senior GD Jones and sophomore Marc Spicijaric grabbed a hard-fought victory at No. 2, coming from down a break to dismiss Marc Dwyer and Alex Sanborn (NU), 8-6.

Northwestern then notched the first match win in singles, as it prevailed in straight sets at No. 5, but Spicijaric responded with Illinois' first point as he tallied his fifth straight victory, improving to 23-11 on the year. Using the full court to his advantage, the Wesley Chapel, Fla., native marched past Christian (NU), 6-1, 6-4.

Continuing his success in the top slot, No. 6-ranked Anderson grabbed his fifth straight match victory when he took down Lock of Northwestern, 6-1, 6-3. With full control of the match on his racquet from the beginning of the contest, Anderson used a mixture of powerful serves and ground strokes to improve to 17-4 on the season.

Knue, winning his first conference match of the season made his first the victory count, clinching the dual-mach victory for Illinois with his win over Sanborn (NU), 0-6, 6-1, 6-1. From the opening frame, Knue looked out of the match as he surrendered the opening set in under 30 minutes. The freshman walk-on, however, found another gear in the following two sets to shutdown his Northwestern opponent, allowing a total of two games the rest of the match.

"Jordan is just a great player to coach and watch," Dancer said. "Kent [Kinnear, assistant coach] did a great job of working with Jordan this week. Overall, it was a great job of preparation from Kent and good execution from Jordan to stay offensive minded to come back and win the match."

Closing out the day's matches, Jones (ILL) extended his winning streak to five straight with a win at No. 3 singles over Dwyer (NU), 6-4, 6-7(3), 10-3, while No. 12 Rowe (ILL), after struggling early in the first set, returned to form to defeat No. 94 Tempke (NU), 6-4, 6-2.

Illinois returns to action against No. 5 Notre Dame tomorrow for a 12:30 p.m. (CST) start in Southbend, Ind., 1:30 p.m. local time. The Illini will be facing their seventh top-10 opponent of the season in the match which can be followed through live scoring at www.und.com.

TENNIS MATCH RESULTS

URBANA, ILL.

3/31/2007

ILLINOIS 6, NORTHWESTERN 1

Singles competition

1. #6 Kevin Anderson (ILL) def. Willy Lock (NU) 6-1, 6-3

2. #12 Ryan Rowe (ILL) def. #94 Christian Tempke (NU) 6-4, 6-2

3. GD Jones (ILL) def. Marc Dwyer (NU) 6-4, 6-7(3), 10-3

4. Marc Spicijaric (ILL) def. Matt Christian (NU) 6-1, 6-4

5. Juan Gomez (NU) def. Brandon Davis (ILL) 6-3, 6-0

6. Jordan Knue (ILL) def. Alex Sanborn (NU) 0-6, 6-1, 6-1

Doubles competition

1. Kevin Anderson/Ryan Rowe (ILL) def. #54 Willy Lock/Matt Christian (NU) 8-3

2. Marc Spicijaric/GD Jones (ILL) def. Marc Dwyer/Alex Sanborn (NU) 8-6

3. Brandon Davis/Jordan Knue (ILL) def. Christian Tempke/Juan Gomez (NU) 8-6

Match Notes:

Order of finish: Doubles (1, 3, 2); Singles (5, 4, 1, 6, 2, 3)