TCU men’s tennis traveled to Champagne, Illinois to take on No. 9 Illinois and fell 4-0.
No. 57 Guillermo Nuñez and Alex Rybakov defeated Illinois’ Zeke Clark and Aleks Kovacevic, 6-2, but that victory was sandwiched between two Illini victories to give Illinois the doubles point.
Illinois (7-4) followed up the doubles point by winning the first two singles matches before TCU (6-3) got on the board with a thriller between No. 42 Alex Rybakov and No. 97 Aron Hiltzik that finished, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (12-10).
TCU’s Trevor Johnson was handed his first loss in singles matches this year as No. 23 Aleks Vukic downed Johnson 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) to give the Illini the victory.
TCU falls to 0-2 on the season against ranked opponents, also losing at No. 3 UNC.
“This was another opportunity for us to get a very good win and we didn’t do what we needed to do to get it,” head coach David Roditi said. “Illinois played well and they deserved the win.”
Despite the loss, there were some impressive individual performances, including Alex Rybakov who picked up two victories Friday night.
“On a positive note about the match, I was very proud of Reese [Stalder], Trevor [Johnson] and [Alex] Rybakov’s performances today,” Coach Roditi said.
Up Next:
TCU has a few days off before Penn (6-7) comes to Fort Worth Thursday, March 8 at 5:30 p.m.
