Tough miss. He'd look awfully good in orange and blue. Pretty much has the orange covered already.
2017-18 Illini Tennis
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Tough miss. He'd look awfully good in orange and blue. Pretty much has the orange covered already.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
That's a great start!
They are about to lose, 4-3. Clark is down 5-1 in the third set.
Hiltzik's match was very disappointing. He lost 6-2, 6-3 to a freshman.
Hiltzik's match was very disappointing. He lost 6-2, 6-3 to a freshman.
It doesn't seem that Aron always carries his share of the load. He is tough in conference play but not so tough outside of conference. On the bright side, Vukic beat the second ranked player in the country and very few teams will take NC to 4-3.
Yes, Hiltzik is really inconsistent (much more so than his brother).
Blumberg was the NCAA singles runner-up last year, but he lost to Michigan last week. I have a feeling that Vukic will be back in the top 5 in the next rankings.
Segouin is the real thing. He’s Canadian so not as much US exposure but he and Oliver Crawford were consistently 1 and 2 in class. Segouin has played the French Open junior and reached Eddie Herr final.
What’s scary is as good as Illini are this year, Ohio State has John McNally at #3 right now. McNally is a top 5 guy in 2017 class right behind Segouin. McNally at 3 is a lot like us having Vukic at 5 as a freshman. He’s going to win a lot of matches easily.
If we can keep doubles rolling, this is going to be an exciting year.
and Hiltzik was the #1 recruit in the 2014 class.
I agree that Sigouin is excellent, but Hiltzik really should have put up a better fight. No ad scoring can sometimes make the final score of a match look more lopsided than it really was, but Sigouin really dominated this match in all aspects.
With that being said, I was still impressed with the team's overall performance this weekend and the tenacity to fight back after going down 3-1 vs NC. It's not easy to beat Duke and NC back to back, but our guys were within a few games of doing just that. Maybe the score would have been flip-flopped if this match up was in Champaign.
It was great to see Vukic and Hiltzik take down a very good doubles team and the freshmen continue to play excellent doubles in big situations (even if they struggled in singles vs NC).
It doesn't get any easier with Cal and Stanford coming to town this weekend. This is already turning out to be a very exciting season!
Doubles has been very good this season!
I knew Chakravarthi was a good doubles player coming in and he's been showing that.
Keenan Mayo, who will be a freshman next year, is a great doubles player:
http://fightingillini.com/news/2017/12/3/mens-tennis-mayo-wins-eddie-herr-itf-doubles-title.aspx
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Amen! It seems like it was our Achilles Heel forever. So glad they are finally putting it together.
Mayo recently won the doubles title at the Copa Del Café in Costa Rica:
http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/tournaments/tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100041334
http://www.news-gazette.com/podcast...age&e=podcast-news-gazette-sports-page-2-5-18
Interviews with both Brad Dancer and Mike Small for those that love Illini Tennis and Illini Golf.
Interviews with both Brad Dancer and Mike Small for those that love Illini Tennis and Illini Golf.
Look for Vukic to move up once he gets more matches under his belt. He is a top five player or higher. Hiltzik - who knows. Need to see more of Rabinowitz. She has one good win over a highly ranked player, so far. I've seen her twice and she is a bulldog. Never gives up on a point. That having been said, she seldom comes to the net. I think Kawai and Duong are much more aggressive and will have better college careers.
If you are local there is a chance to see both teams play tomorrow at Atkins. Gals at 2 vs. Furman and guys at 6 vs. Cal. Guys play again Sat. at 6 vs. Stanford.
Interview here with Dancer (about 30 minute mark): https://twitter.com/WernerShow/status/961655003269169152
If you are local there is a chance to see both teams play tomorrow at Atkins. Gals at 2 vs. Furman and guys at 6 vs. Cal. Guys play again Sat. at 6 vs. Stanford.
Interview here with Dancer (about 30 minute mark): https://twitter.com/WernerShow/status/961655003269169152
Illini kicked stuffing out of Cal in doubles winning 6-2 at 2 and 6-1 at 3. Vukic and Hiltzik were 5-5 after letting a big lead slip away.
Went on to dominate in singles, too (4-0). Should have their hands full tonight vs. Stanford. Stanford has already taken down both USC and UCLA this year. Looking forward to Vukic dominating Fawcett - a former Illinois prep. who felt the need to leave the state.
Gals were impressive again with a 7-0 stomping of Furman (who admittedly isn't very good). Their match vs. Notre Dame has been cancelled due to weather.
ilphotog
The camera never lies
- Champaign
Tough loss tonight against Stanford, some of the best tennis I've watched/photographed in person. Loved the fight I saw in the team, fought off several set and match point's, hell even some of the tie breakers went extra. Kudo's to the crowd, they were into it all night and created a great atmosphere.
Agreed all around. Incredible, electric atmosphere with really great tennis.
Guys were so close. I was extremely impressed with Brown. He settled in after losing serve immediately and took care of a very good, experienced player. I’ve seen his opponent several times over the past 6-7 years at Midwest Closed and USTA Team Cup and thought Brown was 1 match we didn’t win for sure. Glad I was wrong!
Hiltzik was also impressive in defeat. His first set and second half of third set were smart, excellent play. His opponent was just too good. Stanford’s #2 just happens to be the 2017 Wimbledon and US Open junior runner up.
Looking forward to next match!
https://twitter.com/ita_tennis?lang=en
Draws are out for the indoor championship. Illini get UCLA first. So Vukic will have to deal with Redlicki.
I don't want to look too far ahead, but the Buckeyes would be looming if/when the boys get past UCLA.
Draws are out for the indoor championship. Illini get UCLA first. So Vukic will have to deal with Redlicki.
I don't want to look too far ahead, but the Buckeyes would be looming if/when the boys get past UCLA.
Tough draw but, then, I guess there are no easy draws at this point in the tournament. Notice they have a mistake in the link that you provided. They list Wisconsin as the host school, not Washington.
Stanford beat UCLA 4-3 a few days before Stanford beat us 4-2. UCLA winners were Redlicki at 1, Staggs at 4 and Cressy at 5. Our victories over Stanford were at 3 and 4. We need to win the doubles point if we are to have a chance.
UCLA has three players currently ranked: Redlicki @1, Staggs @58 and Smith @107. We have Vukic @46 and Hiltzik @69. Our #1 doubles team is ranked @40 while UCLA has no ranked doubles teams. On paper, UCLA should prevail.
UCLA is 7-1 on the season but have really played only one ranked opponent (Stanford). They play Seattle U. tonight. Getting in a warmup match prior to the ITA in Seattle, I guess.
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