Box ScoreÂ
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Fighting Illini men's tennis team dropped a 4-2 decision to the No. 16 Michigan Wolverines in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon. Illinois moves to 16-11 overall this season.
In doubles play, the Wolverines topped Illinois at the No. 1 and 3 positions to gain an early advantage in the match. Singles would begin with Illinois's No. 5 Aleks Vukic taking down No. 80 Jathan Malik, 6-4, 6-0 on court one to even the match at 1-all. The Illini junior extends his winning streak to 20 matches, good for sole possession of second place in the Illinois history books.
Michigan retook the lead, 3-1 as both freshmen Aleks Kovacevic and Gui Gomes dropped their respective matches on courts three and four. Zeke Clark gave Illinois another team point with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Carter Lin on court five. In the end, Noe Khlif fell to Davis Crocker, 7-6(11), 6-4 on court six to seal the Michigan victory.
Up next, the Orange and Blue will await the NCAA Tournament in two weeks. The NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for Tuesday at 4 p.m. CT.
Head Coach Brad Dancer's Thoughts
"This is the second time in two weeks that Michigan has completely outplayed us in doubles. They are proving that they are better than us in doubles this year. We were down 1-0 and playing indoors and it was not ideal. At some point, you have to step up and we had some guys do that today and that was great. But the bottom line is that I don't think we were courageous enough in our play. That takes away from what I thought were some pretty good efforts today. We have had way too many matches like this during the season and at some point, we have to get more courageous and make different types of errors. We have to improve in so many spots. We have 10 days to do it. We have a lot of work to get ready in time for NCAAs."
Final Results
#16 Michigan 4, #25 Illinois 2
Doubles-Order of Finish: 1, 3*
- #22 Malik/Johnston (Michigan) def. Jesse/Kovacevic (Illinois) 6-1
- Budic/Vukic (Illinois) vs. Hua/Knight (Michigan) 4-5, unf.
- Schalet/Wong (Michigan) def. Gomes/Hiltzik (Illinois) 6-3
Singles-Order of Finish: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6*
- #5 Aleks Vukic (Illinois) def. #80 Jathan Malik (Michigan) 6-4, 6-0
- #39 Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) vs. #123 Alex Knight (Michigan) 4-6, 6-3, 3-1, unf.
- Myles Schalet (Michigan) def. Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) 6-4, 6-4
- Runhao Hua (Michigan) def. Gui Gomes (Illinois) 6-2, 6-4
- Zeke Clark (Illinois) def. Carter Lin (Michigan) 7-5, 6-4
- Davis Crocker (Michigan) def. Noe Khlif (Illinois) 7-6(11), 6-4 Â
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