CHICAGO – The No. 14 Illinois men's tennis team fell 4-3 to the No. 6 Texas Longhorns on Friday night in the opening round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Illinois moves to 4-2 overall this season.
"Congrats to Texas, they played a great match," said head coach Brad Dancer. "Proud of our guys for the toughness they showed. They came back in some matches where we had things going against us."
Illinois won the first match of doubles play with junior Vuk Budic and redshirt sophomore Gui Gomes defeating Yuya Ito and Chih Chi Huang, 6-3. Texas eventually won the battle, securing the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and 2 positions.
After a slow start, junior Aleks Kovacevic put the Illini on the scoreboard with a huge win over No. 6 Christian Sigsgaard (UT). The New York native defeated the Longhorn, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. Freshman duo carried the momentum for the Orange and Blue going into the next two matches. Keenan Mayo defeated Harrison Scott in a third set tiebreaker, 7-6 (5), while Siphosothando Montsi gave a gutsy performance to overcome Chih Chi Huang, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4). In the end, junior Zeke Clark fell in the third set tiebreaker to Leonardo Telles, 7-6 (5), to give Texas the match win.
Up next, the Illini will continue play at the 2019 ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship, facing the No. 4 Florida Gators on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. CT.
"It is difficult to come out on the losing end of that, but there is still a ton of tournament left and we need to respond tomorrow, "noted Dancer. "Florida will be another huge challenge."
Follow the Illini
Stay tuned to FIGHTINGILLINI.com for all the latest information on Fighting Illini Men's Tennis. Follow the Orange and Blue on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for complete coverage.Â
