MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The No. 17 Fighting Illini men's tennis team advanced to the 2016 Big Ten Tournament final with a thrilling 4-3 win over No. 2 seed Northwestern Saturday afternoon. The No. 3 seed Orange and Blue punched their ticket to the finals for the ninth time in head coach Brad Dancer's 11 years at the helm.
"Number one, it was a great college tennis match. Northwestern has a great team. Hats off to them and the season they've had. They're going to represent the Big Ten incredibly well in the NCAA Tournament and I wish them the best of luck," Dancer said. "Second, we did some great things in doubles today but it wasn't enough to get the doubles point and Northwestern built off that. The guys came out very focused for singles. To be honest, it was just a great college match in that it was just a battle on all the courts, all the way through."Â
For the second consecutive day, Illinois (19-9, 8-3) avenged one of its three regular season conference losses. The Illini look to avenge their most recent conference loss Sunday as they face No. 1 seed Ohio State in the finals at Noon CT. Illinois seeks back-to-back conference tournament titles and its third in the last five years.
"It's exciting for our program and we obviously look forward to playing Ohio State," Dancer said. "This has been kind of the tour of avenging recent Big Ten losses, so we get one more shot at that."
With the match tied at 3-3, Illini freshman Pengxuan Jiang provided the clincher at the No. 6 position. Garnering the biggest win of his freshman season and just his second dual victory, Jiang stormed back from a first set loss to defeat Alp Horoz 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Down 2-0 early in the match, Illinois claimed singles wins at the No. 1, No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6 positions to complete the comeback.
No. 4 Aleks Vukic garnered the first point for Illinois with win at No. 1 singles. Vukic took out No. 20 Konrad Zieba 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Â Julian Childers evened the score at 2-2 with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Fedor Baev at No. 4 singles.
The Wildcats answered to take a 3-2 lead with a win at the No. 3 position. Aron Hiltzik fell to Strong Kircheimer in three sets (5-7, 6-2, 6-2).
No. 17 Jared Hiltzik kept the comeback hopes alive with a hard fought win on court two. Jared defeated No. 40 Sam Shropshire 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-3. Â
With a new-look doubles lineup today, Illinois dropped the early advantage with losses on courts two and three. Pengxuan Jiang and Julian Childers fell 6-0 to Zieba/Shropshire at No. 2 doubles. Northwestern clinched the early lead, as Horoz/Kumar topped Jared Hiltzik and Asher Hirsch 7-6(1).
Northwestern increased its early lead to 2-0 with a singles win at the No. 5 position. Asher Hirsch fell to Ben Vandixhorn by the scores of 6-1, 7-5.
In a rematch of the 2015 Big Ten Tournament final, Illinois and Ohio State are meeting in the Big Ten Tournament final for the ninth time in the last 11 seasons. Either the Illini or the Buckeyes have won the conference tournament title since 1996.
Big Ten Men's Tennis Tournament
April 30, 2016
Baseline Tennis Center | Minneapolis, Minn.
Match 10: Illinois 4, Northwestern 3
Singles
1. Aleks Vukic (ILLINOIS) def. Konrad Zieba (NU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
2. Jared Hiltzik (ILLINOIS) def. Sam Shropshire (NU) 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-3
3. Strong Kirchheimer (NU) def. Aron Hiltzik (ILLINOIS) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
4. Julian Childers (ILLINOIS) def. Fedor Baev (NU) 7-5, 6-3
5. Ben Vandixhorn (NU) def. Asher Hirsch (ILLINOIS) 6-1, 7-5
6. Pengxuan Jiang (ILLINOIS) def. Alp Horoz (NU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles
1. Strong Kirchheimer / Fedor Baev (NU) vs. Aleks Vukic / Aron Hiltzik (ILLINOIS) 6-6 (6) unfinished
2. Konrad Zieba / Sam Shropshire (NU) vs. Pengxuan Jiang / Julian Childers (ILLINOIS) 6-0
3. Alp Horoz / Mihir Kumar (NU) vs. Jared Hiltzik / Asher Hirsch (ILLINOIS) 7-6 (1)
Order of Finish: Doubles (2, 3); Singles (5, 1, 4, 3, 2, 6)
