No. 7 Illinois Edges No. 24 Duke, 4-3

Friday, January 29

Durham, N.C.

6:00 PM

Duke University

Illinois

No. 7 Illinois Edges No. 24 Duke, 4-3

1/29/2016 9:27:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – For the third straight match, a late rally for the Duke men's tennis team fell just short as the 24th-ranked squad fell to No. 7 Illinois 4-3 on Friday evening inside the Sheffield Tennis Center.

The Blue Devils (1-3) dropped the doubles point and trailed 3-1 in the match before evening the contest at 3-3 overall. Illinois (4-0) rebounded with the clinching point on court two from Aleks Vukic, who defeated junior TJ Pura in three sets. Duke was able to tie the match with victories from senior Josh Levine and freshman Catalin Mateas.

“That was a great college tennis match,” Duke head coach Ramsey Smith said. “It came down to the last match. We had a great atmosphere with two teams playing extremely hard. We focused on all heart in singles and really digging in. I really felt like we did that on all six courts. I told the guys that if we keep that effort up that we're going to be fine.”

Illinois got the upper hand in the initial doubles decision as Julian Childers and Brian Page downed Pura and Mateas 6-2 on court three. The Duke duo was broken after a 1-1 tie and the Fighting Illini won four straight to go up 5-1. Mateas held on his serve to make it 5-2, but Illinois closed out for the victory. It was the first loss of the year for Pura and Mateas, who are now 3-1.

Duke evened the doubles action on court one as sophomore Nicolas Alvarez and freshman Vincent Lin defeated Jared Hiltzik and Alex Jesse, 6-4. Alvarez and Lin took the lead immediately with a break in the opening game. The duo never relinquished the advantage, holding leads of 3-1 and 5-3 before closing out the set. Alvarez and Lin improve to 3-1 this season.

“I was really happy with court one,” Smith said. “I think that was one of the best matches they had played from start to finish.”

For the second straight match the doubles point came down to court two. Aron Hiltzik and Vukic went on a late run and defeated Levine and freshman Ryan Dickerson, 6-3. The pairs were on serve through a 3-3 tie before Illinois broke, held and broke to end the match and secure the point. Levine and Dickerson fall to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in dual matches.

In singles, Lin continued his strong day with the second ranked win of his career, topping No. 67 Childers, 6-2, 6-1, on court four. In the opening set, Lin took an immediate 3-0 lead with a break in the second game. Childers got it down to a 4-2 deficit, but Lin won the last two games. The second set had Lin again go up 3-0 and cruise to the victory. Lin improves to 10-8 overall, 2-2 in dual matches and 2-0 versus ranked opponents this season.

“Vinny took out a ranked player quickly,” Smith said. “I moved him down a spot in the lineup and sometimes players don't handle that very well. He couldn't have handled it much better. His match really helped the other five guys out there get a real belief we could do it."

Illinois retook the lead at 2-1 with a 6-2, 6-4 win from court one by No. 21 Jared Hiltzik against No. 12 Alvarez. Hiltzik took a quick 2-0 advantage in the opening set by breaking Alvarez in the first game. Alvarez cut the deficit to 3-2, but Hiltzik rattled off three straight wins to take the set. In the second set, Alvarez was broken after a 1-1 tie and trailed by one game three times, but could not break back as Hiltzik served out for the victory. Alvarez is 5-7 this season and 4-6 versus nationally ranked opponents.

The Fighting Illini made it a 3-1 lead with a win on court five, where Jesse defeated freshman Adrian Chamdani, 6-3, 6-3. In both sets, Chamdani jumped out to 3-1 leads, only to have Jesse come back with five consecutive victories to win the match. Chamdani falls to 9-8 this year and 2-1 in dual matches.

Duke again rallied and trailed 3-2 compliments of a Levine victory on court six as he fought off Asher Hirsch, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3). Levine climbed back from two deficits in the opening set, trailing 2-0 right from the start. Levine evened the set at 2-2 with a break and hold. The two were tied at every point and went to the tiebreaker. Once in the tiebreaker, Levine trailed 4-2 before knotting it at 4-4. Levine led 6-4 before Hirsch got a point to make it 6-5. Levine then took the final point for the set. In the second set, Levine trailed 3-0 and 3-1 before forcing a tie at 3-3. The two were even at 4-4 and 5-5 before Hirsch broke to go up 6-5. Levine fought off two set points and evened it at 6-6. The two again headed to the tiebreaker, where Levine went up 2-1 before pushing the advantage to 5-2 and winning 7-3. Levine improved to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in dual matches.

Just seconds later the Blue Devils evened the match at 3-3 overall from Mateas, who continued his early-season roll in singles by defeating No. 41 Aron Hiltzik 7-6 (5), 6-4 on court three. It is the second straight ranked victory of his career after topping No. 82 Romain Kalaydjian of San Diego on Sunday. The two were even at 1-1 in the first set before a break and hold by Hiltzik. Mateas trailed 4-2 and 5-3 before winning consecutive games to force a 5-5 tie. Hiltzik broke to go up 6-5, but Mateas broke back and sent the set into the tiebreaker. Once in the tiebreaker, Mateas trailed 3-0. He was down 4-2 and 5-3 before evening the action at 5-5. He then won the next two points for the victory. In the second set, the two were even at 3-3 before Mateas broke and held to go up 5-3. Hiltzik held on his game to make it a 5-4 set, but Mateas served out for the win. Mateas improves to 4-0 in singles, all in dual matches. He is 2-0 versus ranked opponents this year.

“I'm especially proud of Catalin,” Smith added. “That guy is a gamer. He doesn't lose many matches. You have to beat him. Catalin stayed aggressive, stepped up and took the match at the end.”

The deciding point came down to court two, where Pura dropped a hard-fought, three-set decision to Vukic, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. In the opening set, Vukic took a 3-0 lead and never looked back as Pura only got as close as 3-1 and 4-2. After both held serve to go to a 4-4 tie in the second set, Pura had a late break to go up 5-4 and then held to take the set. In the deciding set, Pura was broken to trail 3-1. He broke back to make it a 2-3 and 3-3 contest before Vukic broke and won the last three games to take the match. Pura falls to 6-6 overall and 0-3 in dual matches.

“I have all the confidence in the world in this team even though we're really young,” Pura said. “The guys, especially the freshmen, I couldn't be more proud of. I think, if you look back at the Kentucky match to now, it's night and day the way we look. We're on the brink of making a breakthrough. We all feel it. The loss is really tough, but it's exciting. We're right there.”

Duke plays the final match of its season opening home stand at 12 noon Sunday against No. 21 Northwestern (3-1).

#7 Illinois 4, #24 Duke 3
Jan. 29, 2016 at Durham, N.C. (Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center)

Doubles competition
1. Nicolas Alvarez/Vincent Lin (DU) def. Jared Hiltzik/Alex Jesse (ILL) 6-4
2. Aron Hiltzik/Aleks Vukic (ILL) def. Josh Levine/Ryan Dickerson (DU) 6-3
3. Julian Childers/Brian Page (ILL) def. TJ Pura/Catalin Mateas (DU) 6-2

Singles competition
1. #21 Jared Hiltzik (ILL) def. #12 Nicolas Alvarez (DU) 6-2, 6-4
2. Aleks Vukic (ILL) def. #102 TJ Pura (DU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
3. Catalin Mateas (DU) def. #41 Aron Hiltzik (ILL) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
4. Vincent Lin (DU) def. #67 Julian Childers (ILL) 6-2, 6-1
5. Alex Jesse (ILL) def. Adrian Chamdani (DU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Josh Levine (DU) def. Asher Hirsch (ILL) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3)

Match Notes:
Illinois 4-0; National ranking #7
Duke 1-3; National ranking #24
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (4,1,5,6,3,2)
Official: Tina Chandler
T-2:36 A-309

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