Box Score 

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana – Illinois men's tennis fell to the Purdue Boilermakers, 4-3 on Wednesday night at the Schwartz Tennis Center. Illinois moves to 7-5 overall this season and 1-1 in Big Ten play.

The Boilermakers took the doubles point on Wednesday night. Bennett and Madarasz defeated freshmen Zeke Clark and Gui Gomes, 6-2 at the No. 3 position. Purdue's Medinilla and Ugarte defeated redshirt-senior Alex Jesse and freshman Aleks Kovacevic, 6-2 to clinch the doubles point.

Purdue continued to gain momentum in the match as they pushed the advantage to 3-0 with wins on courts three and four. Junior Aron Hiltzik earned Illinois its first point with a 6-4, 7-5 victory on court two over No. 83-ranked Gregely Madarasz. On court five, Kovacevic needed a 7-5 tiebreak to take the first set, but dominated the second, 6-1 to take the match over Purdue's Dominik Sochurek. Junior Aleks Vukic pushed the match to 3-all. Vukic and Ricky Medinilla split sets, but the Sydney, Australia native won the third, 6-1.

The match came down to court six with freshman Noe Khlif and Athell Bennett squaring off. Bennett took the first set, 6-4. Khlif forced a second set tiebreaker, but ultimately fell, 7-4 and Purdue took the match.

Up next, the Illini will host a doubleheader at the Atkins Tennis Center on Friday. Illinois will take on Texas Tech at 12 p.m. CT and No. 16-ranked Northwestern at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Head Coach Brad Dancer's Thoughts

"Credit to Purdue for playing better than us at certain spots. We are not playing at our capabilities and you just have to look at yourself and hold yourself as a coach accountable for the overall team's performance. Tonight we had some guys really step up and rise to the occasion. But that's three guys and it wasn't enough."

Final Results

Purdue 4, #23 Illinois 3  

Doubles-Order of Finish: 3, 2*

1. Hiltzik/Vukic (Illinois) vs. Koenigsfest/Sochurek (Purdue) 5-3, unf.
2. Medinilla/Ugarte (Purdue) def. Jesse/Kovacevic (Illinois) 6-2
3. Bennett/Madarasz (Purdue) def. Clark/Gomes (Illinois) 6-2

Singles-Order of Finish: 4, 3, 2, 5, 1, 6*

1. #29 Aleks Vukic (Illinois) def. Ricky Medinilla (Purdue) 6-4, 1-6, 6-1
2. #23 Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) def. #83 Gregely Madarasz (Purdue) 6-4, 7-5
3. Benjamin Ugarte (Purdue) def. Gui Gomes (Illinois) 6-4, 6-2
4. Stephan Koenigsfest (Purdue) def. Julian Childers (Illinois) 6-3, 6-1
5. Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) def. Dominik Sochurek (Purdue) 7-6(5), 6-2
6. Athell Bennett (Purdue) def. Noe Khlif (Illinois) 6-4, 7-6(4)

Records-Illinois: 7-5, 1-1 | Purdue 9-5, 1-0

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