NCAA Round of 16 vs. TCU    

The Illinois men's tennis team travels to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the 2018 NCAA Championships site for the Round of 16. Illinois will square off against TCU on Friday at 3 pm CT from the Wake Forest Tennis Complex. The Illini swept Marquette and Vanderbilt to advance to the team's second-straight NCAA Round of 16. 

Match Points 

• Illinois is making its 16th appearance in the NCAA Round of 16. 
• Illinois and TCU will meet in the NCAA Round of 16 for the second-straight season. 
• TCU topped Illinois 4-1 in the 2017 NCAA Round of 16 in Athens, Georgia. 
• The Illini earned a 5-2 victory over TCU on March 2 at the Atkins Tennis Center. 

Illinois in the NCAA Tournament 

• 2018 marks the 23rd appearance for the Fighting Illini in the NCAA Championships. The Illini boast a record of 48-21 in NCAA Tournament play, highlighted by a 2003 NCAA National Championship. 
• The Orange and Blue have appeared in 23-straight NCAA Tournaments, a streak that began in 1996. Illinois has hosted the NCAA First and Second Rounds 18 times with a record of 31-4 when competing in NCAA Tournament play at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex. 
• The Illini are 20-3 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and have not lost in the opening round since 1998. 
• In 2017, UI went 2-1 in NCAA play. Illinois traveled to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for the NCAA Stillwater Regional. The Illini opened play with a sweep of Drake, followed by upsetting host-school, Oklahoma State, in a 4-3 thriller. Illinois's run was ended by TCU, 4-1, at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia. 
• Illinois has won one NCAA Team Championship in 2003 after defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores, 4-3, in Athens, Georgia. The 2003 completed the highly-coveted NCAA "Triple Crown" by winning the team championship, as well as the singles and doubles individual championships. 

Illinois Notes 

• Illinois opened the NCAA Tournament with back-to-back sweeps for the first time since 2006. The Illini have swept the opening two rounds five times in program history (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2018). 
• Illinois's 23 wins this season sit at No. 10 in the Illinois record books and are the most since 2015
• Illinois's 10-match home winning streak sits at No. 7 in the Illinois record books and the longest since the Illini's run of 17 matches from February 5, 2014 to January 30, 2015.  
• Illinois completed 2018 with an 11-1 record at home, the most home wins for the Illini since 2016.  
• The Illini are 17-2 when winning the doubles point. 
• The Illini are 18-0 when winning at the No. 5 position and 13-0 when winning at the No. 6 position.  
• Head coach Brad Dancer became Illinois's all-time winningest coach on May 12 as the Illini swept Marquette in the NCAA First Round. Dancer surpassed Illini Hall of Famer, Craig Tiley's 275 wins in the Orange and Blue. 
• Vukic moved up to No. 9 on the Illinois Career Singles Wins list with 108 victories. The Sydney, Australia, native is now tied with Tim Kopinski and Jeff Laski. 
• Clark extended his winning singles streak to 13 matches. 
• Kovacevic has won 10-straight singles matches. 
• Hiltzik and Kovacevic have clinched the doubles point the past two matches. 
• Brown and Chakravarthi earned their first ranked win in doubles over Vandy's No. 11 Klinger and Rowe. 
• Vukic earned a program-best 11th Big Ten Athlete of the Week honor on April 24. 
• Brown has garnered three Big Ten Athlete of the Week awards during his freshman campaign and is the first conference freshman to win three weekly honors since former Illini All-American Jared Hiltzik in 2013. 
• Brown and Chakravarthi have clinched a team-best 10 doubles points and combined to clinch 10 Illinois match victories. 
• Vukic, Brown and Hiltzik each garnered All-Big Ten honors. Vukic and Brown took home First-Team All-Big Ten accolades and Hiltzik was named to the Second-Team All-Big Ten list. 

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