The University of Illinois men's tennis team, coming off its first Big Ten Conference championship in 51 years, is ranked 17th in the NCAA Division I preseason poll.

The Illini return five of their top six players from the team that was ranked 20th at the end of last season. The squad rose to as high as No. 11.

Illinois is the highest-ranked Big Ten team in the preseason poll and 1 of 2 league members in the Top 25. Northwestern is ranked 24th.

Individually, two Illini are listed in the preseason singles rankings. Cary Franklin, the 1996 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is rated 43rd after finishing last season at No. 61. Junior Gavin Sontag, the defending Big Ten singles champion, is ranked 51st. Sontag was 75th in the final rankings last spring.

Coach Craig Tiley's Illini will open their fall schedule Sept. 25 in the ITA Clay Courts Tournament at Baltimore. The Illini will make their home debut Oct. 17 in the Fighting Illini Fall Invitational at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana.

UI pair ousted.

After pulling off an upset Wednesday night, Franklin and junior Oliver Freelove were knocked out Thursday night in the USTA Challenger at Atkins Tennis Center.

Robbie Koenig of South Africa and Henrik Holm of Sweden, both professionals, won the match 6-2, 6-1.