MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Fighting Illini men's tennis team avenged its loss to Penn State from just a week ago by taking out the No. 6 seed Nittany Lions 4-2 in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Big Ten Tournament. No. 3 seed Illinois advance to the semifinals to face No. 2 seed Northwestern Saturday at 1:30 p.m. CT.

The No. 17 Illini defeated Penn State with strong play at the top of their lineup. The Orange and Blue garnered victories at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles positions.

"We're happy to advance and I can't say it was a very interesting match. I didn't feel like Penn State was at their best. I didn't feel like we were at our best. I don't know what that was," head coach Brad Dancer said. "It was not a pretty tennis match today, and, I think, when it's not pretty, you kind of have to get down and fight and I felt Julian [Childers] did a great job of getting back in his. [Aleks] Vukic just did a good job at getting back and fighting and so forth and, when you don't feel good and you don't like the way things are going, you just have to get down and fight, and we did that on a couple courts, which was really great. Jared [Hiltzik] hit quadruple set point in the first set, and that was really good of him to fight out of that. It was a good fighting match from us today."

No. 71 Aron Hiltzik was first off the court for the Illini in singles, as he defeated Matt Barry in straight sets (6-2, 6-4) on court three.

No. 17 Jared Hiltzik quickly followed with a straight set win on court two. The senior topped Constant De La Bassetiere by the scores of 7-6(3), 6-0.

Penn State took care of the bottom part of the lineup, garnering straight set wins at No. 5 and No. 6. In his first match of the season, sophomore Toshiki Matsuya fell 6-1, 6-1 to Aws Laaribi on court five. Alex Jesse dropped his match on court six to Marc Collado by the scores of 6-2, 6-3.

No. 4 Aleks Vukic clinched the Illini victory at No. 1 singles. Vukic took down Leonard Stakhovsky 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Illinois won the doubles point for the 10th time in the last 13 matches with wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. No. 71 Aleks Vukic and Aron Hiltzik defeated Leonard Stakhovsky/Matt Barry 6-2 on court one. Jared Hiltzik and Pengxuan Jiang clinched the first point for Illinois with a 7-6(1) victory over Christian Lutschaunig and Matt Galush.  

The Orange and Blue will look to avenge another conference loss tomorrow as the face in-state rival Northwestern. This will be the third match between both teams. Illinois defeated Northwestern 4-0 in the ITA kickoff held in Urbana. Northwestern topped the Illini 4-3 in Evanston in the first conference match of the season. 

Big Ten Men's Tennis Tournament

April 29, 2016

Baseline Tennis Center | Minneapolis, Minn.

Match 8: Illinois 4, Penn State 2

Singles

1. Aleks Vukic (ILLINOIS) def. Leonard Stakhovsky (PSU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-1

2. Jared Hiltzik (ILLINOIS) def. Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) 7-6 (3), 6-0

3. Aron Hiltzik (ILLINOIS) def. Matt Barry (PSU) 6-2, 6-4

4. Julian Childers (ILLINOIS) vs. Tomas Hanzlik (PSU) 3-6, 6-2, 2-1 unfinished

5. Aws Laaribi (PSU) def. Toshiki Matsuya (ILLINOIS) 6-1, 6-1

6. Marc Collado (PSU) def. Alex Jesse (ILLINOIS) 6-2, 6-3

Doubles

1. Aleks Vukic / Aron Hiltzik (ILLINOIS) def. Leonard Stakhovsky / Matt Barry (PSU) 6-2

2. Jared Hiltzik / Pengxuan Jiang (ILLINOIS) def. Christian Lutschaunig / Matt Galush (PSU) 7-6 (1)  

3. Aws Laaribi / Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) def. Julian Childers / Brian Page (ILLINOIS) 6-3