University of Illinois
Northwestern
No. 11 Illinois on the Road to Face Northwestern
April 16, 2021 | Men's Tennis
Preview
| No. 11 Illinois vs Northwestern | |
|---|---|
| When | Sunday April 18 | 12 pm CT |
| Where | Evanston, Ill | Combe Tennis Center |
| Follow Live | Watch | Live Stats |
| Season Stats | Illinois | Northwestern |
The No. 11 Illini travel to Evanston to face Northwestern on Sunday, April 18 at noon. Illinois is coming off another undefeated weekend where their 4-0 sweep of Nebraska clinched the Big Ten West Division title.
Illinois is on a 12 match win streak, the third longest conference win streak in program history. On Sunday Zeke Clark won his 100th match as an Illini, becoming the 16th player to hit the milestone.
Scouting the Opposition
Northwestern - Northwestern 12-5 overall this season and 11-4 in conference play… They are ranked No. 49 in the ITA Computerized Rankings and No. 39 in the ITA Coaches Poll... Simen Bratholm and Nick Brookes are 12-6 this season and are ranked No. 16 in the ITA Doubles rankings.... Northwestern is on a four match win streak... Illinois defeated Northwestern 4-1 earlier this season in Champaign...
Zeke Hits 100
Illinois seniors Zeke Clark defeated Albert Sprlak-Puk of Nebraska 6-2, 6-0 against Nebraska to earn his 100 singles match win last Sunday. Clark is 16th on the most career singles list and is the 16th Illini to hit reach 100 singles win.
Fellow senior Aleks Kovacevic is closing in on the mark. Kovacevic has 95 career singles wins.
Last Time Out
Illinois claimed the outright Big Ten West Division title on Sunday afternoon after beating Nebraska 4-0.
The Illini captured their first Big Ten division championship to go along with 15 overall conference titles, the most recent coming in 2015. Illinois also earned the No. 1 seed in the West for the Big Ten Men's Tennis Championships.
Illinois won the doubles point against the Huskers with wins by Siphosothando Montsi/Noé Khlif and Zeke Clark/ Hunter Heck. Montsi and Khlif defeated Maruyama/ Wiedenhorn 6-3. Clark and Heck secured the doubles point defeating Cacciatore/Gleason 6-4.
Clark picked up the first singles win defeating Albert Sprlak-Puk 6-2, 6-0. Hunter Heck defeated Brandon Perez 6-1,6-4 to extend the lead. Alex Brown clinched Illinois' 12th-straight win by defeating William Gleason in straight sets (6-4, 6-3).
In The Rankings
Illinois is ranked No. 11 in the ITA Coaches Poll and No. 16 in the ITA computerized rankings. Illinois highest ranking is No. 10 in the USTA coaches poll. 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 third regular season singles and doubles ranking were released on Wednesday, April 14. Illinois has three of the five ranked player in the ITA singles rankings
Singles Rankings
No. 61 - Zeke Clark
No. 86 - Aleks Kovacevic
No. 112 - Siphos Montsi
Doubles Rankings
No. 18 - Alex Brown and Zeke Clark
No. 54 - Kweisi Kenyatte and Siphos Montsi
Up Next
After Northwestern, Illinois has one remaining regular season match. They travel to Indiana next Saturday to play Indiana.
