First Serve:  Illini Continue Big Ten Play at Minnesota and Wisconsin  

The Illinois Fighting Illini conclude a five-match road swing at Minnesota and Wisconsin this weekend. The Illini will take on the Minnesota Gophers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday night and then take on the Wisconsin Badgers at noon on Sunday. All eight of UI's remaining matches are against Big Ten opponents. The Illini are chasing their 19th Big Ten Regular Season Championship. The Orange and Blue squad currently boast a 2-1 Big Ten record, good for a tie for third in the conference. Wisconsin sits atop the current standings along with the Ohio State Buckeyes with a perfect 3-0 record. 

Last Time Out: Stanford Defeats Illinois, 4-2 

Fighting Illini men's tennis dropped a 4-2 decision to the Stanford Cardinal on Monday afternoon. Illinois is now 9-8 overall this season. Vukic put Illinois on the board with a dominating, 6-3, 6-0 win over Stanford's No. 15-ranked Tom Fawcett, 6-3, 6-0. The Illini junior is currently on an 11-match winning streak in singles. Kovacevic earned Illinois another point with his 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 99-ranked Michael Genender. In the end, Budic fell to Genesen on court six as Stanford clinched the match win, 4-2.

Vukic Named Big Ten Tennis Player of the Week (AGAIN X2) | Full Story 

The Illini junior earned three singles victories over opponents ranked in the ITA Top 15. Vukic handed TCU's No. 3-ranked Cameron Norrie his first singles loss of the season with a 6-7(2), 6-3, 10-6 win on Wednesday night in Fort Worth. On Saturday, the Sydney, Australia native earned a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 13 Florian Lakat of California. The No. 20-ranked Vukic dominated No. 15 Tom Fawcett at Stanford on Monday for a 6-3, 6-0 victory. Vukic is currently on an 11-match singles winning streak. In doubles, the junior teamed up with freshman Vuk Budic on Monday to defeat Stanford's No. 67-ranked pair of Genender and Kumar, 7-5. The honor is the third of the season for Vukic and fourth for the Illini men's tennis team. The Illini junior is the first player in the conference to garner the award three times this season.

Freshmen Focus 

The Fighting Illini opened the 2017 season with five freshmen in the starting lineup. Vuk Budic competed in doubles with junior Aleks Vukic. Gui Gomes, Zeke Clark, Aleks Kovacevic and Noe Khlif started on courts three through six in singles. With six freshmen, Illinois has the largest number of freshmen in the Big Ten and the only school in the conference to start five freshmen on opening day. 

Hiltzik Named Big Ten Tennis Player of the Week 

Aron Hiltzik was named the Big Ten Tennis Athlete of the Week, the league office announced on Tuesday, Jan. 16. Hiltzik was coming off a strong performance at the MLK Invitational in Atlanta, where he tallied a perfect 3-0 record against three ITA-ranked opponents.

Illinois Finds Success at MLK Invitational 

The Orange and Blue opened up the 2017 spring season at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Invitational at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex in Atlanta on Jan. 14-16. Illinois competed against players from Columbia, Georgia and Georgia Tech over the three-day weekend. Junior Aron Hiltzik and freshman Aleks Kovacevic each went undefeated in singles play, tallying four of their six wins over ranked opponents.

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