CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The No. 14 Fighting Illini hosts Michigan for a top-25 matchup Friday afternoon before welcoming Michigan State to Atkins Tennis Center on Sunday.
Stats and Live Stream wil be available through fightingillini.com.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
No. 25 Michigan - Michigan won its eighth straight match and is 8-1 overall including a win over Ohio State... The Wolverines are ranked No. 25 in the ITA computer rankings and are ranked No. 6 in the first Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25 poll of the season... Michigan has won the doubles point in six of nine matches this season.
Michigan State- Michigan State's top doubles team, Kazuki Matsuno and Nick Williams, have won five consecutive matches in Big Ten play and entered the ITA national rankings this week at No. 38... The Spartans are 4-6 ao far this season including 3-3 on the road.
LAST TIME OUT
Illinois soundly defeated Purdue 6-1 last Sunday.
Alex Brown and Zeke Clark picked up the win on Court 1 defeating Cossu/Wozniak 6-3. Siphosothando Montsi and Noe Khlif won on Court 3, 6-3 over Julio/Suzanne to secure the point. Kewisi Kenyatte and Hunter heck were leading 5-4 when doubles finished.
Heck and Montsi gave Illinois a 3-0 leading in singles. Heck won in singles No. 5 defeating Tomasz Dudek 6-0,6-0. Montsi moved to 10-0 in singles play this season defeating Mateo Julio 6-2,6-2 on Court 1.
Khlif took Court 4 next. He defeated Milledge Cossu 6-3,7-6(2). Clark defeated Sebestian Welch in a three set battle 6-3,6-7(4), 11-9. Purdue picked up a win on court six in a third set tiebreaker.
On Court 2, Alex Brown finished the match for Illinois coming back to defeat Michal Wozniak 2-6, 6-4,6-4.
In The Rankings
Illinois is ranked No. 14 in the first ITA/Oracle computer rankings of the 2021 season. They started their season unranked but receiving votes. After a strong performance over ITA Championship weekend, they jumped to No.6 in the Coaches poll.
The first regular season singles and doubles ranking were released on Tuesday, March 24. Four Illini were ranked, including three in the top 65. Illinois has two doubles teams.
Aleks Kovaceic is the highest ranked Illini at No. 27. Zeke Clark jumped 84 spots from his preseason ranking of 112 to reach his career-high ranking of 28. Sipos Montsi came in at 54 and Alex Brown at the 119 spot. Zeke Clark and Alec Brown were ranked No. 27 in the doubles while Montsi and Kweisi Kenyatte came in at 49. This is Kenyatte's first time entering the ITA/Oracle rankings.
Singles Rankings
No. 27 - Aleks Kovacevic
No. 28 - Zeke Clark
No. 54 - Siphos Montsi
No. 119 - Alex Brown
Doubles Rankings
No. 27 - Alex Brown and Zeke Clark
No. 49 - Kweisi Kenyatte and Siphos Montsi
Strong Showing at ita Championships
Aan unranked Illinois team hosted the top seven team in the country Feb. 12-14. Illinois ended the weekend going 2-1, including defeating the number 1 team in the country. On the first night of the tournament Illinois went up against No. 1 seed and No. 1 ranked team in the country USC. The Illini claimed the doubled point and went on to win the three singles matched required to win. Senior Zeke Clark, had his moment. Playing on the last court in action Clark clinched the win, defeating Ryder Jackson 7-5, 7-5 on Court 4.
After a slip-up against Baylor, Illinois faced No. 7 ranked Virginia on Sunday. Illinois faces an uphill climb after losing the doubles point and was down 3-1 at one point. Alex Bancila, Hunter Heck and Siphos Montsi each won their respective match. For the second time in three days Zeke Clark clinched the upset for the Illini defeating J Von Der Schulenburg 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-3.
NEXT SERVE
Illinois hosts Wisconsin and Minnesota next weekend. The are set to play Wisconsin at 3 pm on Friday and Minnesota on Sunday at noon. Both matches will be available to stream through fightingillini.com
