University of Illinois
North Carolina
Illinois Drops 4-3 Heartbreaker to North Carolina
February 3, 2018 | Men's Tennis
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The No. 12 Illinois men's tennis team fell 4-3 to the No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday night. Illinois moves to 3-1 overall this season.
The Orange and Blue secured the doubles point for the fourth-straight match. Seniors Aron Hiltzik and Aleks Vukic earned a 7-6(5) win over UNC's No. 3-ranked duo of Blumberg and Kelly. Illinois's freshman pairing of Alex Brown and Caleb Chakravarthi defeated Kiger and Soendergaard, 7-6(4) on court three to give the Illini another early advantage.
In singles play, UNC jumped out to a 3-1 lead with wins on courts two, three and six. The Illini battled back beginning with sophomore Aleks Kovacevic's 6-4, 7-6(7) win on court four over No. 70 SImon Soendergaard. Vukic brought the match to three-all with a 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 victory against No. 2 William Blumberg. In the end, sophomore Zeke Clark fell in the third set to No. 79 Joshua Peck, 6-2 to give UNC the match win.
Up next, the Orange and Blue host California and Stanford next Friday and Saturday nights. The matches will mark the first time the Illini have played at the Atkins Tennis Center this season. First serve for both matches is set for 6 pm.
Head Coach Brad Dancer's Thoughts
"I give Carolina a ton of credit. They have great players and obviously taking four singles matches against us demonstrates their ability. It's a tough place to play because you don't know the scores of the matches and can't see your teammates. Sam and Tripp have done a great job these past few years and have another good squad this year.
No question in my mind that we can play better than we did this weekend. When that happens, you have to look at the coaching and the preparation. What do we need to be doing to hold ourselves accountable in the preparation. It needs to be a good week for us. Needless to say, we are excited to play our first home matches against some great competition. It should be a blast for our community."
Final Results
#3 North Carolina 4, #12 Illinois 3
Doubles-Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3*
- Hiltzik/Vukic (Illinois) def. #3 Blumberg/Kelly (UNC) 7-6(5)
- Kodali/Sigouin (UNC) def. Clark/Kovacevic (Illinois) 6-3
- Brown/Chakravarthi (Illinois) def. Kiger/Soendergaard (UNC) 7-6(4)
Singles-Order of Finish: 2, 3, 6, 4, 1, 5*
- Aleks Vukic (Illinois) vs. #2 William Blumberg (UNC) 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-1
- Benjamin Sigouin (UNC) def. Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) 6-2, 6-3
- #94 Robert Kelly (UNC) def. Alex Brown (Illinois) 6-2, 6-4
- Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) def. #70 Simon Soendergaard (UNC) 6-4, 7-6(7)
- #79 Joshua Peck (UNC) def. Zeke Clark (Illinois) 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-2
- Blaine Boyden (UNC) def. Caleb Chakravarthi (Illinois) 6-1, 6-4
Records: Illinois (3-1) | UNC (6-0)
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