URBANA, Ill. - The Fighting Illini men's tennis team punched its ticket to the 2015 ITA National Team Indoor Championship with a 4-0 victory over No. 25 Northwestern Saturday night inside Atkins Tennis Center. Illinois will compete in 16-team field for the third time in the last five years. The No. 7 Illini move to 3-0 on the season.
"It's exciting to advance this weekend," head coach Brad Dancer said. "We obviously love playing at home and having our home crowd behind us. I think we have had a really good couple weeks of preparation and our guys have been really focused."
Illinois took the opening point by defeating the Wildcats in doubles at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Jared Hiltzik and Alex Jesse garnered their first ranked win of the season taking down No. 52 Baev/Kirchheimer by the score of 6-2. On court three, Julian Childers and Pengxuan Jiang defeated Kumar/Horoz 6-3 to secure the early lead.
In singles, the Illini garnered wins at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 positions. No. 21 Jared Hiltzik grabbed the first singles victory with a straight set (6-2, 6-2) win over on court No. 50 Sam Shropshire.
No. 67 Childers extended the lead for the Illini with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Fedor Baev at No. 4 singles. In a tight matchup with No. 16 Konrad Zieba, Aleks Vukic won the last two games to secure a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 1 singles and clinch the Illini victory.
Up next the Illini embark on their first road trip of the dual season to face No. 23 Duke and No. 10 North Carolina in consecutive days. UI will face Duke on Jan. 29 at 5 p.m. CT and North Carolina on Jan. 30 at 5 p.m. CT.
#7 Illinois 4, #25 Northwestern 0
Singles
1. Aleks Vukic (ILL) def. #16 Konrad Zieba (NU) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. #21 Jared Hiltzik (ILL) def. #50 Sam Shropshire (NU) 6-2, 6-2
3. #41 Aron Hiltzik (ILL) vs. #55 Strong Kirchheimer (NU) 4-6, 6-4, 0-1, unfinished
4. #67 Julian Childers (ILL) def. Fedor Baev (NU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
5. Alex Jesse (ILL) vs. Alp Horoz (NU) 6-2, 5-7, unfinished
6. Asher Hirsch (ILL) vs. Ben Vandixhorn (NU) 6-3, 4-6, 1-2, unfinished
Doubles
1. Jared Hiltzik/Alex Jesse (ILL) def. #52 Fedor Baev/Strong Kirchheimer (NU) 6-3
2. Aron Hiltzik/Aleks Vukic (ILL) vs. Konrad Zieba/Sam Shropshire (NU) 2-5, unfinished
3. Julian Childers/Pengxuan Jiang (ILL) def. Mihir Kumar/Alp Horoz (NU) 6-3
Match Notes
Northwestern 3-1; National ranking #25
Illinois 3-0; National ranking #7
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (2,4,1)
