On a day when the Illinois men’s tennis team honored its best players from the last 100 years, it was the team’s newest member that clinched the winning point.

Freshman walk-on Jordan Knue claimed the deciding point with his first dual match singles win, and the Illini recovered from a shaky start in doubles to trounce Northwestern 6-1.

Knue lost his first set 6-0 and looked done. But he took over the match in the last two sets, attacking the net time after time for a 0-6, 6-1, 6-1 win.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a while,” Knue said. “I’ve fallen behind in the first set in my last few matches, lost pretty bad, and I was able to do a little better in the second set, but not turn the match all the way around. Today I was able to do that.”

Fighting wind that shook not just the Atkins Tennis Center flags, but the flagpoles themselves, the Illini fell behind early breaks at the bottom two doubles spots. But both teams recovered, the Illini swept the doubles and Northwestern never challenged again.