No. 7 Seed Illinois Rolls 4-0 Over WIU
May 12, 2006 | Men's Tennis
May 12, 2006
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - No. 7 seeded Illinois advanced to the second round of the 2006 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship with a 4-0 win over Western Illinois at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville Kentucky. The No. 8 ranked Illini will take on the winner of the SMU/Louisville match at noon on Saturday.
The Illini took charge early when they took the doubles point. The No. 3 pair of Brandon Davis and Marc Spicijaric set the pace early beating Michael Tiu and Josh Wittenberg 8-0. The No. 19-ranked pair of Pramod Dabir and Ryler DeHeart finished off Justin Junck and Neil Lesinski 8-2 shortly after.
"It was a great job by our seniors again. Brandon Davis did a good job of returning the serve in doubles, exciting to see for him," said U of I head coach Brad Dancer.
In singles, No. 68 Ryan Rowe was first to finish at No. 3, beating Sisay Selassie 6-0, 6-1. No. 11-ranked Ryler DeHeart beat Martin Bostrom to take the Illini up 3-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 win. Clinching the match for Illinois was Marc Spicijaric at No. 5, who handled Sean Ragee-Nelson 6-4, 6-2.
"Congratulations to Illinois, said Michael Hunt, WIU head coach. "They are obviously a very talented team. I felt like our guys played well, played hard, and we made them work for it. That's what we wanted to do."
"In singles, Ryler DeHeart was the guy who did the leading. Ryan Rowe went out and took care of business," said Dancer. "Good see that and we will move on to tomorrow's challenge. We will be counting on Marc Spicijaric tomorrow and then hopefuly after tomorrow too."
