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IOWA CITY, Iowa – The No. 2-seed Fighting Illini men's tennis team advanced to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals with a 4-0 sweep of the Penn State Nittany Lions on Friday. Illinois improves to 20-6 overall this season and 52-11 in Big Ten Tournament matches.

The Illini took the doubles point on a blustery day at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. Freshmen Alex Brown and Caleb Chakravarthi moved to 2-1 at the No. 1 position with a 6-1 win over Sentay and Antonopoulos. On court three, sophomore Vuk Budic and senior Aleks Vukic clinched the point with a 6-4 defeat of Lieb and Lakoselijac.

In singles play, Brown was again first off the court with a 6-3, 6-4 victory to extend his singles winning streak to eight matches. Senior Aron Hiltzik pushed the Illinois advantage to 3-0 after defeating De La Basse, 6-4, 6-1 on court two. In the end, sophomore Zeke Clark won his tenth-straight singles match to seal the Illinois sweep, 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 4 position.

Illinois will play No. 3 seed Michigan in the Big Ten semifinals on Saturday at 2 pm.

Illini Notes

• The Illini improve to 52-11 at the Big Ten Tournament since 1996.
• Illinois is now 32-5 all-time against Penn State.
• The Orange and Blue are 15-2 when winning the doubles point.
• Head Coach Brad Dancer is one win away from matching former Illini coach Craig Tiley's program-best 274 victories as head coach of Illinois men's tennis.
• Clark extended his singles winning streak to 10 matches.
• Brown moved his singles winning streak to eight matches.
• Hiltzik improves to 5-1 in Big Ten Tournament singles matches.

Final Results

#8 Illinois 4, Penn State 0

Doubles-Order of Finish: 1, 3*

1. Brown/Chakravarthi (Illinois) def. Sentay/Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-1
2. Clark/Kovacevic (Illinois) vs. De La Basse/Nemeth (PSU) 5-2, unf.
3. Budic/Vukic (Illinois) def. Lieb/Lakoselijac (PSU) 6-4

Singles-Order of Finish: 3, 2, 4*

1. Aleks Vukic (Illinois) vs. Christian Lakoselijac (PSU) 6-2, 5-7, 3-0, unf.
2. Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) def. Constant De La Basse (PSU) 6-4, 6-1  
3. Alex Brown (Illinois) def. Gabriel Nemeth (PSU) 6-3, 6-4
4. Zeke Clark (Illinois) def. C. Antonopolous (PSU) 6-4, 6-4
5. Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) vs. Alp Sentay (PSU) 6-3, 5-4, unf.
6. Caleb Chakravarthi (Illinois) vs. Ben Lieb (PSU) 6-3, 4-4, unf.

Records: Illinois (20-6) | Penn State (16-12)

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