Fall sports lose traction throughout season, some exceptions
By Meghan Rest, Sports Editor
December 12, 2019
This fall, Illinois experienced memorable victories and tragic losses at nearly every turn. Some Illini teams saw serious growth in the latter part of 2019, while others fell victim to expectation-shattering campaigns. Despite what record books and scoreboards may suggest, the Illini were full of surpr...
Kovacevic leads Team USA to second-straight title at Master’U Tournament
By Luca Ripani, Staff Writer
December 3, 2019
Illinois senior Aleks Kovacevic helped lead Team U.S.A. to its second-straight and ninth-overall title at the Master'U BNP Paribas Collegiate Tournament this weekend in Grenoble, France. Kovacevic was joined by Stanford's Alexandre Rotsaert and Keegan Smith of the University of California, Los Ange...
Illini host international players at Atkins Tennis Center
By Luca Ripani, Staff Writer
November 21, 2019
Illinois hosted the annual JSM Challenger of Champaign-Urbana last week, running from Nov. 11-Sunday. Illinois hosted dozens of players from around the world in Urbana as part of the Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger Tour. Illini junior Alex Brown defeated Máté Valkusz of Hun...
Kovacevic heads to France
By Luca Ripani, Staff Writer
November 18, 2019
Hot off successful runs at the Fayetteville 25K at Arkansas and the Knoxville Challenger at Tennessee, Illinois senior Aleks Kovacevic was recently named to Team USA for the Master’U BNP Paribas Collegiate Tournament later this month in Grenoble, France. Kovacevic was selected by the US Tennis Asso...
Illinois racks up wins in Florida classic
By Jackson Janes, Contributing Writer
November 6, 2019
Senior Vuk Budic and red-shirt freshman Alex Bancila represented the Illini at the Dick Vitale Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic Friday-Sunday in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. Both players competed in singles and doubles play, racking up three wins over the course of the weekend. Budic and Bancila kicked...
Team aims to continue strong performances in upcoming tournaments
By Jackson Janes, Staff Writer
October 28, 2019
The Illini are looking to build off of senior Aleks Kovacevic’s success in Fayetteville, Arkansas, over the past week, with three tournaments set to take place over the next nine days. The team looks forward to competing in the Charlottesville Challenger, hosted by the University of Virginia, as...
Khlif, Montsi give perspectives on international tennis
By Jackson Janes and Luca Ripani, Contributing Writers
October 28, 2019
The top 10-ranked NCAA Division I tennis programs currently average four international players on their rosters, with the average team size at 11, according to the NCAA. Although international players find greater difficulty with recruitment, as they have less exposure to NCAA coaches at tournaments a...
Men’s tennis competes in international tournament
By Jackson Janes, Contributing Writer
October 9, 2019
Senior Zeke Clark competed at the Norman Open Series Men's 25k this weekend, picking up three wins over the course of the tournament. Clark entered the meet following a strong season debut in Milwaukee at the end of September. With a $25,000 prize at stake, Clark began the international tournament ...
Illini bring home 16 wins from California, Georgia
By Jackson Janes, Contributing Writer
October 3, 2019
Five players were in action across the country this weekend for the Illini, accumulating 16 wins over four days of competition at the Oracle ITA Masters in Malibu, California, and the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens, Georgia. Junior Alex Brown made his season debut and was the lone Illi...
Illini compete in Wisconsin, Indiana
By Jackson Janes, Contributing Writer
September 27, 2019
This past weekend, five Illinois tennis players competed in two different meets in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and in South Bend, Indiana, to open up the fall season. The players played a combined 21 games and racked up a total of nine wins over three days of competition. Redshirt freshman and five-star rec...
Illini to make most of fall semester
By Meghan Rest, Sports Editor
September 12, 2019
The men’s tennis team is no stranger to success. But after finishing second at the Big Ten Championship and sending two athletes to the NCAA tournament, the Illini are focused on one thing this fall: Making the most out of opportunities. While Illinois’ regular tennis season doesn’t officially ...
Big Ten recognizes UI athletes’ academics
By Hannah Preston, Interim editor-in-chief
May 30, 2019
On Wednesday, 1,824 students were named to the spring Big Ten Academic All-Conference team, eligibility determined by varsity-team status, full-time student status and a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.0. From the University, a total of 73 spring student-athletes were selected. Baseball David Craan Casey D...
