Quarterfinals vs. MSU

Illinois junior Pramod Dabir face a familiar foe Friday when he took on Michigan State’s Joe McWilliams.

The first time the teams faced each other McWilliams walked away with a win. This time, on the Illini’s home courts, Dabir was determined to redeem himself for his poor performance at Michigan State.

His determination paid off when he clinched the quarterfinal match on Friday with a 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory over McWilliams.

“I definitely played a lot better tennis today, and I definitely made some steps forward, which I’m pretty excited about,” Dabir said.

But Dabir was not the only Illini to step up in the match.

Many Illinois athletes who did not see a lot of playing time early in the season were thrust into high-pressure situations because of the loss of freshman Kevin Anderson. Anderson, who has been a consistent contributor to the team in both singles and doubles, sustained an injury two weeks ago and has been withheld from competition.

“Some of the young guys have stepped up when they’ve had a chance,” said Illinois head coach Craig Tiley. “They wanted to take advantage of it.”

One freshman who capitalized on his chance to compete was Illinois freshman Brandon Davis.

Davis and senior Evan Zeder joined forces to defeat Anthony Stefani and Adam Monich 8-2 in doubles to help the Illini secure their first point of the tournament.

“It was a lot of fun and Evan and I played really well so it was exciting to get a win for the team,” Davis said.

Although Davis and Zeder have played doubles throughout the season, they have not been regular doubles partners. However, Davis said he was not apprehensive about playing in the first Big Ten Tournament match of his career. Instead, he said, he was determined that he and Zeder would be successful.

“You have to be ready at all times when people are hurt or it’s just your turn,” Davis said. “Playing with Evan is always interesting, but we have a lot of fun out there and we’ve been playing well lately so hopefully we can keep it going.”

Semifinals vs.

Northwestern

Illinois freshman Ruben Gonzales had his time in the spotlight on Saturday afternoon when he clinched the Illinois men’s tennis 4-0 victory over Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal.

It was the second time the Illini had blanked their competition in as many outings during the tournament.

“The players had a goal that no one was going to lose this weekend and so far it hasn’t happened,” said Illinois head coach Craig Tiley.

Gonzales has performed well throughout the tournament, despite straining his left calf Friday against Michigan State.

Tiley said he asked the freshman if he wanted to withdraw from his quarterfinal match because the Illini were leading on all of the courts, but the freshman refused.

In a similar manner on Saturday, Gonzales fought through a close second set to win his singles contest over Willy Lock.

Gonzales defeated Lock 6-3, 7-5 to send the Illini into the finals.

“Obviously it feels good to be the one who clinches it,” Gonzales said. “But we all just play our own matches and whoever does it, does it – we just focus on our own matches.”

Illinois senior Chris Martin and junior Ryler DeHeart secured singles victories and the team’s win.

Martin defeated Matt Christian 6-0, 6-1. DeHeart topped Tommy Hanus 6-4, 7-5.

Martin said he was pleased with the team’s mental effort in the semifinals, especially since the team is so young and there are additional distractions like media obligations that aren’t present on the road that come from hosting the tournament.

“Winning 4-0 is a step toward the Big Ten Championship tomorrow,” Martin said. “I’m not really treating it any differently. It’s still the same ball – we’ve got different guys this year, different personalities.”

DeHeart, however, who clinched the third point of the afternoon, has been one of the team’s constants throughout the season.

DeHeart rallied from a 5-2 second-set deficit to win 6-4, 7-5 over Tommy Hanus.

“First of all, I shouldn’t have gotten into that position to begin with, so I wasn’t happy about that,” DeHeart said. “I started over and took it one point at a time.”