Box Score
URBANA, Ill. – The Illinois Fighting Illini men's tennis team fell in a 4-3 thriller to the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday afternoon. Illinois moves to 15-10 overall this season and 8-3 in Big Ten play.
Illinois clinched the doubles point on Sunday afternoon with victories on two and three. Freshman Vuk Budic and junior Aleks Vukic defeated Ohio State's No. 13-ranked pair of Torpegaard and Pollanen, 6-4 on court two. Freshman Gui Gomes and junior Aron Hiltzik clinched the point with a 6-4 win over Wolf and Tubert at the No. 3 position.
In singles action, No. 5 Vukic topped the No. 1 Torpegaard, 6-1, 6-3 on court one. The Sydney, Australia native extends his singles winning streak to 18 matches, good for third all-time in the Illinois record books. Freshman Aleks Kovacevic gave Illinois a 3-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-4 victory at the No. 4 position. Ohio State would bring the match to 3-all with three wins on three, five and six.
In the deciding match, Hiltzik and Ohio State freshman JJ Wolf needed two tiebreakers and three sets to determine a winner. The Illini junior took the first set via a 7-4 tiebreaker and Wolf earned a 6-4 second set win. The players would trade breaks and holds until Hiltzik broke Wolf to force the third set tiebreaker. In the end, the Buckeye took the tiebreaker, 7-1 and clinched the match for Ohio State.
Up next, the Illini will travel to West Lafayette, Ind. for the 2017 Big Ten Tournament. Play will begin on Friday afternoon for the Illini.
Head Coach Brad Dancer's Thoughts
"This has been our season. We have guys that come out and play well, but there are way too many courts where we are not strong enough down the stretch and I think that was the case today. I think we are better than what we showed today. I think Ohio State is better than what they showed today too. It was weird match where they already have the Big Ten title clinched and are on the backend of a road trip. So, it was really a match, where given all of the logistics, we should have won. We just didn't take care of business today and it is disappointing."
Final Results
#2 Ohio State 4, #25 Illinois 3
Doubles-Order of Finish: 2, 3*
- Jesse/Kovacevic (Illinois) vs. #27 Joyce/Di Feo (OSU) 4-5, unf.
- Budic/Vukic (Illinois) def. #13 Torpegaard/Pollanen (OSU) 6-4
- Gomes/Hiltzik (Illinois) def. Wolf/Tubert (OSU) 6-4
Singles-Order of Finish: 1, 4, 6, 3, 5, 2*
- #5 Aleks Vukic (Illinois) def. #1 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU) 6-1, 6-3
- #75 JJ Wolf (OSU) def. #32 Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(1)
- #8 Hugo di Feo (OSU) def. Gui Gomes (Illinois) 6-4, 6-1
- Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) def. Martin Joyce (OSU) 6-3, 6-4
- Kyle Seelig (OSU) def. Zeke Clark (Illinois) 6-4, 6-4
- #120 Herkko Pollanen (OSU) def. Noe Khlif (Illinois) 6-1, 6-3
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