Box Score 

SEATTLE – The No. 10 Fighting Illini men's tennis team earned a 4-1 win over the No. 15 Duke Blue Devils on Saturday morning at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Illinois improves to 5-3 overall this season.

After dropping the doubles point, Illinois responded with four singles wins. Freshman Alex Brown got the Orange and Blue on the board with a 6-0, 6-4 win against Nick Stachowiak. Sophomore Noe Khlif earned his first dual match victory of the season, 6-0, 6-3 over Robert Levine on court six. Fellow-sophomore Aleks Kovacevic made it a 3-1 Illinois advantage on court five with a 6-1, 6-2 win. Sophomore Zeke Clark clinched the Top-15 win at the No. 4 position, 6-3, 6-4.

Up next, Illinois will play the No. 11 Florida at 11 am CT on Sunday morning.

Head Coach Brad Dancer's Thoughts

"Resilient effort by our guys today. We've been fortunate to play duke twice now not at full strength. They have great players so it's a challenge. Having said that, yesterday's loss took some of our soul. In some ways, I don't mind that because it means our team came to a Seattle to win.

We didn't prepare for the doubles the way we need to and it showed today. This is a good rebound win. As I've said all year so far, we are capable of more. We know Florida has great players so another challenge for the guys tomorrow. All in all, it's good to be playing in what is another important match."

Final Results

#10 Illinois 4, #15 Duke 1

Doubles-Order of Finish: 3, 2*

1. #40 Hiltzik/Vukic (Illinois) vs. Stachowiak/Sculley (Duke) 6-6 (1-5), unf.
2. Alvarez/Mateas (Duke) def. Clark/Kovacevic (Illinois) 7-5
3. Dickerson/Lapidus/Dickerson (Duke) def. Brown/Chakravarthi (Illinois) 6-2

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

1. #46 Aleks Vukic (Illinois) vs. #53 Nicolas Alvarez (Duke) 7-5, 6-6 (4-2), unf.
2. #69 Aron Hiltzik (Illinoi) vs. Catalin Mateas (Duke) 6-4, 3-6, 2-1, unf.
3. Alex Brown (Illinois) def. Nick Stachowiak (Duke) 6-0, 6-4
4. Zeke Clark (Illinois) def. Sean Sculley (Duke) 6-3, 6-4
5. Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) def. Ryan Dickerson (Duke) 6-1, 6-2
6. Noe Khlif (Illinois) def. Robert Levine (Duke) 6-0, 6-3

Records: Illinois (5-3) | Duke (6-4)

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