North Carolina
Illinois
Tar Heels Pull Off 5-2 Win At No. 17 Illinois
February 5, 2017 | Men's Tennis
In its first road contest of the spring and its first matchup of the season against a top-25 opponent, the UNC men's tennis team battled to a 5-2 win over No. 17 Illinois Saturday night at Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill. Carolina claimed the doubles point then earned wins at No. 2, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 singles to improve to 8-0 on the year. The host Illini fell to 2-2.
Next up for the Tar Heels is a home match next Saturday night (Feb. 11) against the University of Mississippi at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
Saturday in Illinois, the Tar Heels won the doubles point, as they have in all eight matches this spring. William Blumberg and Robert Kelly wrapped up a 6-3 victory at No. 1 and seniors Jack Murray and Ronnie Schneider sealed the point with a 6-4 win at No. 2.
In singles, the first two points went to the Illini, who picked up straight-sets wins at No. 1 and No. 3. On No. 2, Schneider dropped the first set and trailed 5-4 in the second but battled back to reach a tiebreaker, which he won to play on and keep Illinois from taking a 3-1 lead.
UNC's first singles point came at No. 4, courtesy of Kelly. He trailed 4-1 in the first-set tiebreak but rallied for a 7-5 win then rolled on to a 6-1 result in the second, making the match score 2-2.
At No. 6, Carolina freshman Josh Peck also won a tie-breaker in the first set. He took the second 6-3 to put UNC in the lead, 3-2. As Peck finished, Murray was serving for the match on No. 5. After dropping the first set, he fought back to take the second 6-3 and the third 6-4 and seal the match for the Tar Heels.
Although UNC had already claimed the match, the teams played out the final point at No. 2 singles, where Schneider gutted out tie-breaker wins in the second and third sets to earn a victory over 29th-ranked Aron Hiltzik.
Feb. 4, 2017
Atkins Tennis Center , Champaign, Ill.
No. 7 North Carolina 5, No. 17 Illinois 2
Doubles
Order of match finish: (1,2)
1. Blumberg/Kelly (UNC) d. Gomes/Hiltzik (ILL), 6-3
2. Murray/Schneider (UNC) d. Jesse/Budic (ILL), 6-4
3. Boyden/Soendergaard (UNC) vs. Vukic/Kovacevic (ILL), 4-5 UF
Singles
Order of match finish: (1,3,4,6,5,2)
1. Aleks Vukic (ILL) d. William Blumberg (UNC), 6-4, 6-2
2. Ronnie Schneider (UNC) d. Aron Hiltzik (ILL), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2)
3. Gui Gomes (ILL), d. Simon Soendergaard (UNC), 6-3, 6-4
4. Robert Kelly (UNC) d. Julian Childers (ILL), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
5. Jack Murray (UNC) d. Aleks Kovacevic (ILL), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. Josh Peck (UNC) d. Zeke Clark (ILL), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
Records: UNC 8-0, Illinois 2-2
Players Mentioned
