MINNEAPOLIS –  The Illinois men's tennis team fell to the Minnesota Gophers, 4-3 on Friday night. Illinois moves to 9-9 overall this season and 2-2 in Big Ten play.

The Illini took the doubles point on Friday night. Junior Aleks Vukic and freshman Vuk Budic earned a 6-4 win on court two. Freshmen Zeke Clark and Gui Gomes clinched the point on court three with a 7-6(2) victory.

In singles action, Vukic was the first off the court with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 80 Matic Spec. The Illini junior is currently riding a 12-match singles winning streak. Minnesota tied the match at 2-all with wins on courts four and five. Clark fell to Ogilvy, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and redshirt-senior Julian Childers was defeated by Krstanovic, 2-6, 7-6, 6-1 on court five. Minnesota earned the team's first lead in the match with Corwin's three-set victory over Gomes, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 on court two.

Freshman Aleks Kovacevic evened the match all 3-all with his 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Millcevic on court three. In the end, Alpeza defeated Budic on court six, 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 to clinch the Gopher victory.

Up next, the Illini will take on the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison, Wisc. on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT.

Head Coach Brad Dancer's Thoughts

"I give a tremendous amount of credit to Minnesota and their gritty team. Geoff does a great job with his program and they play hard all the time. Felix Corwin made a tremendous sportsmanship gesture and that is indicative of their program.

We didn't close. I'm not sure I can remember a match where we had more sets and breaks up and ended up losing in singles and doubles. We were in control of that match and didn't finish it."

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