Box ScoreÂ
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 7 Illinois men's tennis team fell to the Kentucky Wildcats, 4-3 on Sunday afternoon. Illinois moves to 6-4 overall this season.
Illinois grabbed the doubles point with wins on courts two and three on Sunday afternoon. In singles, sophomore Aleks Kovacevic pushed the Illinois lead to 2-1 with a 6-1, 7-6(4) victory over Trey Yates. Kentucky earned a team point after Aron Hiltzik fell to Ryotaro Matsumura on court two. Senior Aleks Vukic recorded his 99th-career singles win, 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 at the No. 1 position. In the end, the Wildcats countered with three-straight singles wins as Austin Hussey clinching the match on court five.
Up next, the Illini host the TCU Horned Frogs on Friday night at the Atkins Tennis Center. First serve is set for 6 pm.
Head Coach Brad Dancer's Thoughts
"Not really sure how that one got away from us. Obviously, you have the give Kentucky a ton of credit. We came out and put ourselves in a winning position. We had team match points. Maybe at that point we are looking around too much. I'm not certain. We didn't play nearly as well as we are capable and when that happens you have to give credit to Kentucky.Â
I felt good about our week of preparation coming off indoors. We have great young leaders that understand what's in front of us over the next week. Four matches that can continue to impact our season. We will respond."
Final Results
Kentucky 4, #7 Illinois 3
Doubles-Order of Finish: 3, 2*
- Hiltzik/Vukic (Illinois) vs. Bourgois/Benson (Kentucky) 5-5, unf.
- Clark/Kovacevic (Illinois) def. Matsumura/Wallart (Kentucky) 6-2
- Brown/Chakravarthi  (Illinois) def. Bushamuka/Yates (Kentucky) 6-2
Singles-Order of Finish: 4, 2, 1, 6, 3, 5*
- #23 Aleks Vukic (Illinois) def. Will Bushamuka (Kentucky) 6-1, 5-7, 6-0
- #63 Ryotaro Matsumura (Kentucky) def. #97 Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) 6-4, 6-1 Â
- #115 Enzo Wallart (Kentucky) def. #116 Alex Brown (Illinois) 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4
- Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) def. Trey Yates (Kentucky) 6-1, 7-6(4)
- Austin Hussey (Kentucky) def. #83 Zeke Clark (Illinois) 7-6(3), 6-7(9), 6-4
- Kento Yamada (Kentucky) def. Noe Khlif (Illinois) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Records: Illinois (6-4) | Kentucky (7-3)
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