CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois men's tennis team will welcome Central Florida and Notre Dame to Atkins Tennis Center on Friday and Saturday at 6 p.m. for evening matches.
The Illini are looking for two bounce back wins after their tough weekend, with only three players collecting wins. Mathis Debru and Oliver Okonkwo were the only undefeated doubles pair this weekend, beating North Carolina's Ryan Seggerman and Casey Kania, 7-6 (7-5) and going unfinished in their match against Duke's Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION | UCF (1-3)
John Roddick is in his sixth year at the helm of Central Florida, coming off the most successful yet as the Knight's posted a 22-4 record and saw UCF earn their first conference championship as part of The American as well as the team's first NCAA Tournament victory.
The 22 victories is the highest win total achieved as a Division I program and is just one of three 22+ win seasons in team history. A dozen of UCF's 22 wins were over ranked opponents and 14 of their victories were consecutive, leading them into the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The team also achieved their highest ranking in program history.
Central Florida is coming off its ITA Kickoff Weekend, losing, 0-4, to now No. 1 Ohio State and 1-4 to Tulsa.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION | Notre Dame (5-2)
Head coach Ryan Sachire is in his tenth year with Notre Dame and has led the Fighting Irish to 12 Consecutive NCAA Championship Appearances. Monaghan's 2015 season was an historic one in program lore, as he finished with a No. 7 ranking in the final Oracle/ITA singles rankings (third-highest in program history), earned a top 16 seed into the NCAA Singles Championships and advanced to the national singles semifinals.
Notre Dame went 1-1 on their ITA Kickoff Weekend -- defeating Washington, 4-2 and losing to Kentucky, 1-4.
STUDENT APPRECIATION NIGHT | ORANGE OUT
Fighting Illini Athletics will have two promotions for fans this weekend -- Friday's match will be Student Appreciation Night where 100 skip-the-line wristbands will be given out for the men's basketball game against Rutgers on Saturday.
Saturday will be the fan-favorite Orange Out where fans are encouraged to wear the color orange to support the Fighting Illini.
