Monday was Ryan Rowe’s turn to be the hero.

The junior’s singles match broke the 3-3 tie between the Illini and the No. 3 Baylor Bears, sending Illinois to the NCAA finals in Athens, Ga.

The win comes just two days after the No. 10 Illini knocked off Big Ten rival Ohio State in the tournament quarterfinals 4-2.

“(Baylor) is a really good team,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “We hung in there for dear life and managed to get the win.”

The Illini will face No. 1 Georgia in the championship match Tuesday at 2 p.m.

It is the second time in school history that the team has reached the finals, the previous being 2003 when it defeated Vanderbilt 4-3 to win the title.

“I think Georgia is an awesome team and they’re loaded with a lot of great players,” Dancer said. “It’ll be an atmosphere that will be unprecedented in (the player’s) lives, and I’m really happy to have the opportunity.”

Rowe came back from a first set loss to win 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 and capture the match for the Illini.

“I was kind of down and out match point in the second set,” Rowe said. “I am just very happy I was able to help the guys out and win.”

Illinois won the doubles point with 9-8 victories at the one and two spots. The Illini had lost the doubles portion in their previous three matches, but they don’t lose often when they win that point. Monday’s semifinal improved them to 22-2 when they win the doubles point.

The Illini got off to a slow start in singles. Neither GD Jones nor Billy Heiser were able to capture a set, and the team fell behind 2-1.

Ruben Gonzales lost his first set, but managed to come back and win the next two, capturing a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win in the four spot.

“The guy’s a great player,” Dancer said. “Ruben was very, very resilient, as he always is.”

Kevin Anderson lost his match to 11th-ranked Lars Poerschke 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, and yesterday’s hero, Marc Spicijaric, defeated Matt Brown 7-6, 7-6, which left the match up to Rowe.

Down a set to 19th-ranked Michal Kokta and facing match point, Rowe settled in.

“Brad and I talked about a few things; the guy was returning really well for a while,” Rowe said. “I was just trying to be aggressive with my first serve and attack second serve.”

The Illini will be the lowest-ranked team to reach the finals since No. 11 USC did it in 2002. The Trojans went on to win the title.

Illinois will attempt to eliminate its fourth-straight top-10 opponent in as many matches in Tuesday’s final. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.