Results

Results

CHICAGO, Ill. The Fighting Illini men's tennis team rounded out the ITA Men's Indoor Championships with a 4-2 defeat of Big Ten rival Ohio State Sunday night inside Midtown Athletic Club. No. 5 Illini took down No. 8 Ohio Sate for the first time since topping the Buckeyes in the 2012 Big Ten Tournament Championship.

"Were excited about the win ... definitely proud of the freshmen," head coach Brad Dancer said. "We talk a lot about just playing with purpose, not getting caught in all the extra stuff. Let our fans just do the extra stuff and we'll just play tennis out there and for the most part from the feedback I got those guys did that. TK did that. Jared did that. Jared did a much better job of his positioning out there today. And then Farris had a really rough start today and I think after yesterday and everything else it was a great job by him of getting things back under control."

The Orange and Blue didn't let a doubles point loss to Ohio State affect them, as Illinois quickly took control of the match claiming the first set on five courts. No. 37 Tim Kopinski got the momentum started with a quick defeat of Herkko Pollanen 6-1, 6-2 on court three.

The lone singles victory for Ohio State would come next on court six, but the Illini quickly responded with match wins within minutes of each other from No. 46 Aleks Vukic and No. 23 Jared Hiltzik. Vukic defeated No. 110 Hunter Callahan 6-3, 6-3 on court five and Jared quickly followed with a 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 30 Mikal Torpegaard.

In a race to between Farris Gosea and Aron Hiltzik to clinch the match, No. 69 Aron Hiltzik defeated No. 68 Ralf Steinbach 6-4, 6-4 to secure the victory. Aron finished the weekend as the only Illini to earn a victory in all three matches. No. 41 Farris Gosea was up 6-2, 5-1 over No. 53 Chris Diaz when the match was abandoned.

"A lot of things happen in sports and you never know is kind of ready to go and who isn't," Dancer said. "We had some concerns about Aron coming into the weekend because he's had a rough patch. He did a great job of focusing in and playing tennis and not being distracted by other things."

As the host team, the Illini wrapped up the 2015 ITA Indoor Championships with a 2-1 record. Illinois swept No. 13 California (4-0) to open the tournament and narrowly fell to No. 4 Georgia (4-2) in the quarterfinals.

Up next, Illinois returns home to face in-state rival Northwestern Feb. 20 at 6 pm inside Atkins Tennis Center.

Full results of tonight's match can be found below.

ILLINI RESULTS
Singles 
1. #41 Farris Gosea (ILL) vs. #53 Chris Diaz (OSU) 6-2, 5-1, unfinished
2. #23 Jared Hiltzik (ILL) def. #30 Mikal Torpegaard (OSU) 6-2, 6-4
3. #37 Tim Kopinski (ILL) def. Herkko Pollanen (OSU) 6-1, 6-2
4. #69 Aron Hiltzik (ILL) def. #68 Ralf Steinbach (OSU) 6-4, 6-4
5. #46 Aleks Vukic (ILL) def. #110 Hunter Callahan (OSU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Kevin Metka (OSU) def. Brian Page (ILL) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles 
1. #7 Ralf Steinbach/Kevin Metka (OSU) def. #11 Tim Kopinski/Ross Guignon (ILL) 6-0
2. Jared Hiltzik/Farris Gosea (ILL) vs. #36 Hunter Callahan/Chris Diaz (OSU) 2-5, unfinished
3. Mikal Torpegaard/Herkko Pollanen (OSU) def. Blake Bazarnik/Brian Page (ILL) 6-3