It is going to be tough to get a win at #1 and defending national champ Illinois.

The Illini got the doubles point by winning two of three matches. We won at 1. The Illini won at 2 and 3.

At 1 Cook/Matijevic beat Stolt/Wilson 9-8 (7)
At 2 Calkins/Martin beat Dokki/Joelson 8-1
At 3 DeHeart/Dabir beat El Dorry/Malgren 8-5

Our singles lineup is:

1 Cook
2 Matijevic
3 Dakki
4 Joelson
5 El Dorry
6 Wooten

[This message has been edited by Gap (edited 1/24/2004 7:45p).]

Where are you getting your updates?

http://fightingillini.ocsn.com/sports/m-tennis/ill-m-tennis-body.html

While we are not going to win this match, I am pleased with the way we apparantly (and I say apparantly because I am not there)competed indoors at their place. I am not sure they are number one in reality, but I am sure they are very talented, especially indoors. It will be interesting to see what the coaches have to say tomorrow on their return to Aggieland.

4-3 Illinois. We win at 1,2,& 3.

Sounds like the bottom of our lineup just needs some experience, then we should really shine. Also, sounds like Khaled is having some trouble playing indoors possibly. I noticed that Cass dropped him down to #5 today and he lost in straight sets...granted he was playing the #65 guy in the nation in DeHeart.

It looks like our top 3 are gonna be real solid the whole year...hard to argue when they all 3 win against the #1 team in the nation. If we can just get Joelson and Wooten some match experience, and up our 2 and 3 doubles...we're going to be real hard to beat. I look for some big things later this year from the team.

doc: I think we still have a lot of options in the lower part of the line-up. Brett and Khalid should be very strong as the season progresses, and I think that six may be decided based upon match-ups. We knew that there is a lot of options with this team and both Marvin and Yevgeny could still factor into the playing rotation.

A very impressive showing. I get the feeling that it is going to be a special year for Aggie tennis.

I don't know how rankings work in tennis, and I have a quick question:

Why is it that their 3, 4, and 5 players are ranked 47, 39, 65, in that order, and their top two players are unranked? I realize that national rankings and a player's position on his team are unrelated, but how could their be such a difference? Our rankings and positions seem to make sense... why the difference for the other team?


Edit: I just noticed that their #14 ranked doubles team is playing number 2 for them instead of number 1.... why not put their best team at #1?

[This message has been edited by Gramercy Riffs (edited 1/26/2004 9:32a).]

This early in the season there could be a number of explanations. One and two may not have played this fall (for whatever reason) and are not currently ranked. They may in fact be their best players (which is what I would expect). The fact that their other players are ranked that high may be a good indication of their depth. An example on our team is Dakki,who is not currently ranked and playing number three. He will be ranked shortly, however.

Illi has always mixed their line-up around. Look at their team last year, they have the depth to play their guys at almost any spot. They dont really have a set line up. Most of their guys will be ranked probably near the end of the season because they will get wins over top 50 players because of their unset line-up. Then when you play at #4 5 or 6 you can hold the rank easier.

DP

[This message has been edited by JCHRebel21 (edited 1/26/2004 10:45a).]

their #1 dubs team didn't play in the fall, hence, no ranking. they were #1 in the country for a while last year, i believe.

gotcha, thanks everyone

I do not believe they ever made it to #1 but I know for a good while last year illi had all three teams ranked. Thats pretty amazing, it just shows how much depth they have.

stolt and wilson did not play in the fall, but played higher in the lineup last year. stolt was ranked in the top 10 in singles for a while last year and wilson who played #1 dbls, won the ncaa dbls title last year with ram. deheart and dabir were #7 and #8 on their team last year, but they both had good wins in the fall and are ranked. Wilson and Stolt with both be ranked higher than the rest of their guys by mid-season, this is was in no way a stack.

ok, i knew one of the guys was #1 in dubs last year.

btw, what is ram doing now? anyone know?

Always good to hear from Coryhub. Look forward to seeing you later in the year. Good luck to the Frogs.

Ram went pro, along with Delic. They were pretty stacked last year...they still are really. Just shows how good they were last year, when they can lose 2 of their top players and still have so many guys ranked.