ITA Men's Team Indoors Championship Page | Main Draw
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The No. 12 ranked Fighting Illini men's tennis team will square off against No. 2 TCU Friday, Feb. 12 at 2:30 p.m. CT in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Hosted by the University of Virginia, all competition over the four-day event (Feb. 12-15) is scheduled to take place at Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.
FOR STARTERS
Illinois enters the weekend with a record of 5-1 following a home victory (5-2) over Notre Dame on Feb. 5. No. 12 Aleks Vukic currently leads the Illini with a perfect 5-0 singles record, playing matches at both the No. 1 and No. 2 singles positions. Also, No. 10 Jared Hiltzik is 4-0, as the Illini have not lost at the No. 1 or No. 2 position this season. Illinois has claimed the doubles point in five of six matches this season, led by a 6-0 record at the No. 3 position. Pengxuan Jiang and Julian Childers have been the most successful doubles duo early on, sporting a 4-0 record at Illinois' No. 3 doubles.
NATIONAL INDOORS CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The Illini have quite the prominent history at the ITA National Indoor Championships. The Orange and Blue qualified for 15 straight years from 1997-2011. Illinois won the national team tournament twice, doing so in back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004. Illinois will compete in the 16-team field for the third time in the last five years, and returns several Illini who competed at last season's tournament hosted by Illinois and held in Chicago. Illinois reached the quarterfinals in 2015.
SCOUTING TCU
TCU garnered the fifth seed in the tournament and enters the weekend with a 3-1 record, coming off its first loss of the season. TCU fell to No. 24 California 4-2. The Horned Frogs return a talented group that reached the 2015 NCAA Championship semifinals. TCU currently has three ranked singles players: No. 6 Cameron Norrie, No. 38 Guillermo Nunez and No. 122 Alex Rybakov.
Illinois traveled to TCU in 2015 where the Horned Frogs got the better of the Illini with a 4-0 victory. The two will square off again later this month when TCU heads to Champaign on Feb. 28.
ILLINI IN THE RANKINGS
Illinois enters the weekend at No. 12 in the ITA national rankings, after receiving a preseason ranking of No. 6. The Orange and Blue currently have three ranked singles players and are the only team in the nation to sport two top-15 players in No. 10 Jared Hiltzik and No. 12 Aleks Vukic. No. 69 Aron Hiltzik is also ranked individually.
ITA INDOOR INFORMATION
Thirteen of the 15 No. 1 seeds in the 2016 ITA Kick-Off Weekend advanced to the National Team Indoor Championship. By virtue of hosting the #ITAIndoors, Virginia garnered an automatic bid into the event and did not have to participate in the 2016 ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
The field includes two Big Ten teams in Illinois and sixth-seeded Ohio State. Defending champion Oklahoma is the eighth seed.
For updated draws, complete results, live scoring and video links, daily recaps and photo galleries, head to the #ITAIndoors Championship Central page here. On social media, be sure to follow @ITATennis on Twitter and use the hashtag #ITAIndoors when tweeting about the event. You can also check out @ITA_Tennis on Instagram and on Facebook.
