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June 1, 2000

2000 Men's Tennis Review

Junior Sayeed Ali (Quincy HS, Quincy, IL) put together solid numbers for the 2000 Augustana College men's tennis team and for his effort was named the Vikings Most Valuable Player. Ali, unable to finish his sophomore season due to an injury, played number one singles most of the 2000 season and finished with an 8-2 record. He also compiled a mark of 9-10 in doubles while playing with five different partners.

Ali finished the year with a fourth place finish at number one singles in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin championship that was held at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Illinois on May 5-6. Ali beat Chris Cunnington of Millikin in the first round in a hard fought (6-7; 6-4; 6-3) three set match. He then lost to Chris Jetton of Illinois Wesleyan 1-6; 1-6 in the semifinals. He beat Kristopher Aronson of North Park 8-0 in the consolation round before falling to Cunnington for third place.

As a team, Augustana finished the year with a 6-13 overall record and a 3-3 mark in the CCIW. In the CCIW tournament, the Vikings of head coach Dan Patrick placed fourth with 38 points. Wheaton won the titel with 58 points, followed by Carthage and Illinois Wesleyan, each with 49. Millikin (21), North Park (7), North Central (3) and Elmhurst (no score) rounded out the field.

Junior Philip Elston (Mendota HS, Mendota, IL) and sophomore David Currie (Galesburg HS, Galesburg, IL) shared the Most Improved Player honor. Elston was 9-14 while playing mostly at number six singles while Currie was also 9-14 at number two singles. Elston was 7-6 in doubles while Currie was 12-12 in doubles.

In the CCIW meet, Elston was third at number six singles and Currie was fourth at number two.

Freshman Eric Hanson (Deerfield HS, Deerfield, IL) placed third at number three singles in the conference and was 11-11 overall. Sophomore David Sitko (West Aurora HS, Aurora, IL) ended up second in the CCIW at number four singles, losing to Andrew David of Wheaton 4-6; 3-6 in the finals. Sitko, who was 13-10 on the year, defeated number three seed Shiraz Manan of Millikin (3-6; 6-2; 6-2) in the quarterfinals and number two seed Adam Brubaker of Carthage (4-6; 6-2; 6-2) in the semifinals.

Sophomore Matt Deans (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, IL) placed third in the conference at number five singles, beating Bob Weltman of Illinois Wesleyan for that spot by a score of 6-4; 6-2. He finished the year with an 11-13 record.

Currie and Hanson teamed to place fourth at number one doubles. Deans and Sitko were fourth at number two doubles and Elston and Zach Mikulak (Elgin Larkin HS, Elgin, IL) placed third at number three doubles.

Augustana head coach Dan Patrick recently completed his fourth year at the Vikings helm. He has an overall record of 32-45 and a CCIW mark of 13-14. Three times his teams have finished as high as fourth in the league.

2000 Augustana Vikings Men's Letter Winners

Head Coach: Dan Patrick

Assistant Coach: Tim Baldridge

2000 CCIW Tennis Champions

May 5-6, 2000

Evergreen Racquet Club

Bloomington, Illinois

Team Scores

Championship Matches

Singles

Doubles

2000 CCIW Men's Tennis Standards