May 26, 2003
SAN DIEGO - Ninth-ranked Rajeev Ram and Brian Wilson of Illinois denied San Diego State its first national championship in tennis and completed the triple crown with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 victory over second-ranked Oliver Maiberger and Ryan Redondo in the NCAA doubles national championship match on Monday afternoon in Athens, Ga.
With the victory, the Illini pair helped Illinois to the tennis triple crown. Illinois won the team title last Tuesday and Amer Delic claimed the singles match on Monday morning. Illinois became the 18th team in NCAA history to claim the team championship, singles championship and doubles championship.
San Diego State, looking for its first national championship in tennis, looked good early when the Aztecs broke the Illini early in the first set. The Illinois pair fought back to take the first set 6-4.
"We wanted to come out and play them hard," Maiberger said. "We were able to break them and we thought maybe they would let up on us. They played great doubles and hit their spots. They never let up on us at all. What we were hoping to do was to force a lot of errors on them, but they did that to us."
Maiberger and Redondo bounced back to win the second set but the Illinois duo claimed the third set to clinch the victory.
"It was a fast third set, but there were some long games [in that set]," Redondo said. "I thought we made them work hard and they just really hit the lines well. We were up at a break in the first set and had a chance to break back, but we weren't able to. We had a lot of break points in that first set, but we didn't finish it out."
Maiberger ends his San Diego State career as a five-time All-American. The Aztec senior posted a 30-10 record in singles play and advanced to the singles round of 16. He teamed with Redondo to post a 31-8 doubles mark. Redondo, a junior who has earned two All-America honors, was nationally ranked in singles earlier this season.
Maiberger and Redondo won the 2001 Omni Hotels National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in Farmers Branch, Texas, to claim the first grand slam title in school history.