3/4- No. 7 Illinois Tennis Hosts Northwestern, Wisconsin

No. 7 Illinois Hosts Northwestern, Wisconsin Orange and Blue Take Six-Match Winning Streak Into Big Ten Weekend CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -The seventh-ranked Illinois mens tennis team continues Big Ten competition this weekend as they host Northwestern on Friday, Mar. 6 and Wisconsin on Saturday, Mar. 7. Both matches are set for 6 p.m. starts at the Atkins Tennis Center. Illinois is coming off of a four-match sweep at home last weekend with wins over Detroit, Purdue, Northern Illinois and Saint Louis. The Illini have been preparing hard for another tough Big Ten weekend at home, where they face the No. 44 Northwestern Wildcats (11-2, 0-0) and the No.19 Wisconsin Badgers (9-2, 0-0). Live scoring will be available at fightingillini.com for both matches. Admission to both events is free. ILLINOIS PARTICULARS The Illinois mens tennis team currently holds a 11-3, 1-0 record heading into the weekend. The Illini are currently ranked No. 7 in the latest Campbells Soup / ITA team rankings of the season (3/3). The Orange and Blue also boast four players in the top-125 individual rankings. Sophomore Roy Kalmanovich leads the Illini charge, coming in at No. 29, followed by freshman Dennis Nevolo at No. 33. Rounding out the Illini in the top-125 are senior Marc Spicijaric (No. 55) and junior Marek Czerwinski (No. 101). In doubles, the Illini have three tandems in the standings with the freshmen duo of Nevolo and Ruan Roelofse coming in at No. 19, followed by the veteran tandem of Spicijaric and Czerwinski at No. 41 and entering the charts for the first time this season is the duo of Czerwinski and junior Billy Heiser at No. 63. TAKING A LOOK AT THE WILDCATS No. 44 Northwestern (11-2) has reached its highest ranking since being the 38th-ranked squad in the nation on Feb. 13, 2007. Senior Marc Dwyer captures the first national singles ranking of his career with his ascension to No. 82. After posting an undefeated 5-0 record in the first month of the season, February saw the Wildcats continue to exhibit unshakable play in doubles and depth throughout the singles lineup. The Cats started the month on the road with a trip to Middle Tennessee State University to face the Blue Raiders. Northwestern emerged with a 4-3 victory to maintain a 6-0 record, its best since opening with the same mark during the 2000-01 season. After sweeping a Sunday doubleheader over Ball State and Lewis the following weekend, the Wildcats were back on the road, suffering an agonizing 4-3 decision to No. 25 Notre Dame on Thursday, Feb. 19. The loss snapped the Wildcats eight-match season-opening winning streak. The Illini hold a 54-37-3 all-time record with the Wildcats, with their most recent meeting coming last year when the Illini swept all matches in route to a 7-0 victory on the road. GETTING TO KNOW THE BADGERS The Badgers are ranked No. 19 cracking the top-20 for the first time in 32 years when the Badgers were ranked No. 20 back on March 5, 1977. The Badgers earned wins over Notre Dame and NC State this past weekend to catapult them in the rankings. The win over No. 25 Notre Dame ended an 18-match losing streak and improved Wisconsin to 9-2 on the season. In singles rankings, Marek Michalicka improved 19 spots to the No. 41 ranking. Although Moritz Baumann remains undefeated in singles play this season, he dropped to the No. 72 spot. Both Baumann and Michalicka moved up two places in doubles earning a No. 16 spot after defeating the top-ranked doubles pair in the country of Cory Parr and Steven Forman. Illinois holds a 52-27 all-time advantage over the Badgers. The two teams last met at the 2008 Big Ten Tournament where the Illini took a 4-1 decision over the Badgers. SPICIJARIC EARNS SECOND CONFERENCE LAUREL OF THE SEASON Senior Marc Spicijaric was named Co-Big Ten Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 16. The Wesley Chapel, Fla., native garnered his second weekly laurel of the season after going 4-0 in doubles and 3-1 in singles in Illinois three upset wins over top-15 teams over the course of the week. Spicijaric led the Illini to victory over seventh-ranked Florida, No. 10 Baylor and No. 12 Tulsa, with their only loss coming to No. 4 UCLA in the first round of the ITA National Mens Team Indoor Championship. Spicijaric shares the conference honor with Ohio States Steven Moneke for the week ending Feb. 15. Spicijaric earned his first conference laurel of his career back on Jan. 18. UP NEXT The Illini hit the road next weekend as they travel to College Station, Tex., on Mar. 14 for a match against the Texas A&M Aggies. Match time is set for 11 a.m. CT.