Despite its early exit in Waco I’d still consider last season a success for Illinois because after years of playing second fiddle to Ohio State the Illini beat the Buckeyes not once, not twice, but three times. Illinois won its second Big Ten Tournament Championship in the last four years and won its first regular season Big Ten Championship since 2005 though they did have to share it with Ohio State and Minnesota. The first and third wins over Ohio State came in tournament play but the second win snapped the Buckeyes 97-match Big Ten regular season winning streak which dated back to 2005.
Brad Dancer enters his 11th season as head coach of the Illini and currently sits in second on the all-time wins list with 215 wins which is only 59 behind Craig Tiley’s 274 (12 seasons).
Dancer returns half of his starting 6 from last year’s team but he lost some solid contributors with Farris Gosea, Tim Kopinski, Ross Guignon, and Blake Bazarnik all departing. Those 4 accounted for 38% of the Illini’s dual-match singles wins and were part of 53% of Illinois’s doubles wins.
Gosea went 13-6 last year in dual-match singles play with 9 of those wins coming at #1 but he was even better in doubles going 20-2 including 12-0 with Aleks Vukic at #2 and #3. Kopinski went 19-4 last season in singles with 15 of those wins coming at #3 while on the doubles side he went 12-12 with 23 of those matches coming at #1 (13 with Jared Hiltzik & 10 with Ross Guignon). Guignon went 7-3 in singles including 5-2 at #6 while in doubles he went 13-10 splitting time at #1 with Kopinski and #2 and #3 with Aron Hiltzik. Bazarnik went 6-6 in singles while splitting time between #5 and #6 and he went 5-6 in doubles playing 8 matches with Brian Page at #2 and #3 (3-5).
Jared Hiltzik (Sr) is back for his final year after going 20-3 in dual-match play last year winning 8 of those matches at #1 and the other 12 at #2. Hiltzik mainly played pro events this fall though he did get a wild card into the National Indoor Intercollegiates and beat 2 ranked players before falling in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion and current ITA #1 Dominik Koepfer (Tulane) 7-6(6), 7-5. Hiltzik beat former teammate Farris Gosea in the finals of 2 money tournaments – $2K UTR Decatur Open and $5K Walt Herrick Sr. Open. Hiltzik’s take from those 2 tournaments was $3000 but per the NCAA rules he’s only allowed to keep enough to cover his expenses so hopefully Jared at least had a couple of steak dinners during his time competing. I expect Jared to have a solid senior season playing at #1 and #2.
Aleks Vukic (Soph) didn’t play any college events this fall so hence he starts off the dual-match season unranked though I can assure you that will change quickly. Vukic had a dominating freshman season racking up a team best 23 dual-match wins by going 10-0 at #4 and 13-2 at #5. 19 of his 23 wins came in straight sets and he avenged 1 of his 2 losses by beating UNC’s Robert Kelly in the NCAA Tournament. Vukic’s best result this fall was a semifinal at the Mansfield USA F29 Futures which included straight set wins over former Ole Miss #1 Nik Scholtz and current Baylor #2 Max Tchoutakian. Vukic is currently playing pro events in his native Australia and just beat #62 Sergiy Stakhovsky in the opening round of qualies at the ATP 250 in Sydney. Assuming Vukic comes back for his sophomore season I expect he’ll be just as strong at #1 and #2 as he was at #5.
Aron Hiltzik (Soph) finished last season on a 16-match winning streak and ended up 18-3 in dual-match play including 10-0 at #4. Hiltzik’s best result this fall was the Round of 16 at the ITA All-Americans which included a straight set win over #12 Nicolas Alvarez (Duke). Aron should be fine at #3 this season.
Julian Childers (R-Jr) took a non-injury related redshirt season last season and has come back this year playing some great tennis. Childers had a team best 12 wins this fall including a ranked win over #50 Sam Shropshire (Northwestern). Childers went 7-5 in dual-match play in the 2014 season playing all but one match at #6 but I think he’s the strongest candidate to play at #4 this season (at least based off fall results). Childers would probably be more effective if he was in the #5 or #6 spot but I’m not sure who would play at #4 if it wasn’t him.
The other 2 starting singles spots will probably be filled by a committee that includes Alex Jesse (R-Jr), Toshiki Matsuya (Soph), Asher Hirsch (Fr), and Brian Page (Sr). Matsuya started 18 matches last year going 8-3 with 7 others going unfinished while primarily playing at #6 but he didn’t have the greatest fall going just 3-7 with 0 back-to-back wins. Alex Jesse sat out last season after going 9-5 in dual-match play the year prior while splitting time between #5 and #6. Jesse went just 1-5 this fall but he was competitive in each of his losses against guys that will play in the top 4 of their respective lineups. Hirsch went 5-4 in his first fall with his best win coming over Texas Tech’s Connor Curry who played at #6 last season for the Red Raiders. Page saw limited action last season going 4-1 in dual-match play and he didn’t play any fall college events though he did play in a few Futures.
Aiden Jiang (Fr) and Pablo Landa (R-Fr) probably won’t see too much action unless a few other guys above them get injured.
Illinois went 20-12 in doubles last season but they’ll have to come up with some new combinations after losing half of its starters.
Below are each players summer/fall college records (singles/doubles) along with a list of accomplishments. The ranking listed in front of a player is the ITA preseason ranking.
Aleks Vukic (0-0) – made the finals at the Saskatoon, Canada F6 Futures, made the semifinals at the Mansfield, Texas USA F29 Futures, made the quarterfinals at the Toronto, Canada F9 Futures, beat #249 Zhe Li in qualies at the Happy Valley, Australia Challenger, beat #62 Sergiy Stakhovsky in qualies at the ATP 250 in Sydney
#41 Aron Hiltzik (6-5/2-2) – beat Amerigo Contini (Va Tech) and #12 Nicolas Alvarez (Duke) before falling to #3 Andre Goransson (Cal) in the Round of 16 at the All-Americans, made it to the quarterfinals at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional, beat #71 Nicky Hu (Harvard) at the Texas A&M Conference Challenge, earned an ATP point in singles at the Champaign USA F25 Futures
Julian Childers (12-3/4-6) – beat #50 Sam Shropshire (Northwestern) in route to the Round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional, went 3-1 in singles at the Texas A&M Conference Challenge, made it to the final round of pre-qualies at the All-Americans, made it to the quarterfinals of the $5K Walt Herrick Open before falling to Tim Kopinski 7-6 in the 3rd, made the doubles Round of 16 at the Midwest Regional (w Matsuya)
Alex Jesse (1-5/5-3) – made the doubles semifinals at the Big Ten Doubles Championships (w Matsuya), had several close losses at the Texas A&M Conference Challenge against some good competition (Arconada, Dojas, Sisko, Yueng)
Toshiki Matsuya (3-7/7-3) – made the doubles semifinals at the Big Ten Doubles Championships (w Jesse), made the doubles Round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional (w Childers), made the semifinals at the UTR $2K Decatur Open before falling to Jared Hiltzik 7-6, 7-6
Asher Hirsch (5-4/1-3) – went 3-1 in singles at the Texas A&M Conference Challenge, made the Round of 16 at the Big Ten Singles Championships
Brian Page (0-0) – made the final round of qualies at the Tallahassee F35 Futures, played in a few local USTA tournaments with varying degrees of success
Aiden Jiang (2-5/0-4) – won a match at the Texas A&M Conference Challenge
Pablo Landa (5-6/2-3) – went 3-1 at the the Valpo Crusaders Indoor Invitational
Projected Depth Chart:
1. Jared Hiltzik
2. Aleks Vukic
3. Aron Hiltzik
4. Julian Childers
5. Alex Jesse
6. Toshiki Matsuya
7. Asher Hirsch
8. Brian Page
9. Pengxuan (Aiden) Jiang
10. Pablo Landa
Players With A Current ATP Singles Ranking as of 1/4/16 – high in ( )
#624 – Jared Hiltzik (574)
#718 – Aleks Vukic (708)
#1727 – Aron Hiltzik (1436)
Universal Tennis Rating as of 1/7/16:
14.49 – Aleks Vukic
14.07 – Jared Hiltzik
13.81 – Aron Hiltzik
13.18 – Toshiki Matsuya
13.17 – Julian Childers
12.97 – Alex Jesse
12.84 – Asher Hirsch
12.74 – Aiden Jiang
12.63 – Brian Page
12.18 – Pablo Landa
Universal Tennis Rating as of 6/3/15
14.49 – Jared Hiltzik
14.40 – Aleks Vukic
14.19 – Aron Hiltzik
13.44 – Toshiki Matsuya
13.16 – Alex Jesse
12.98 – Asher Hirsch
12.73 – Julian Childers
12.61 – Brian Page
12.11 – Pablo Landa
11.75 – Aiden Jiang
Pre-College Ratings/Rankings:
Peak ITF Junior Ranking:
#116 – Toshiki Matsuya
#132 – Aron Hiltzik
#348 – Aiden Jiang
#408 – Pablo Landa
#580 – Jared Hiltzik
#726 – Aleks Vukic
#813 – Brian Page
#1224 – Julian Childers
TennisRecruiting.Net Star Rating/High Ranking (Americans Only)
Blue Chip #1 – Jared Hiltzik
Blue Chip #1 – Aron Hiltzik
Blue Chip #10 – Brian Page
5-star #16 – Alex Jesse
5-star #29 – Toshiki Matsuya
5-star #29 – Asher Hirsch
5-star #29 – Aiden Jiang
5-star #39 – Julian Childers
TRN Yearly Recruiting Rankings:
2015 – #24 – (Hirsch, Jiang)
2014 – #18 – (A Hiltzik, Vukic, Matsuya, Landa)
2013 – No additions
2012 – #6 – (J Hiltzik, Page, Childers, Jesse)
2016-17 Recruiting Class:
Zeke Clark – Tulsa, OK – TRN Blue Chip #3 – UTR 14.13
Gui Gomes – Newport Beach, CA – TRN 5-star #27 – UTR 12.96
The following weekend they head to Tobacco Road to play #13 Duke and #9 North Carolina. Last year Duke beat Illinois 4-3 in Champaign but the Blue Devils lost 4 starters off that team while Illinois beat UNC 4-3 in the regular season only to see UNC beat them 4-3 in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. Illinois then plays #37 Notre Dame for a second time before heading off to Charlottesville for the National Team Indoors (assuming they win both matches during the K-O Weekend)
The weekend after the NTIs they welcome in #5 Texas A&M and then #1 Virginia and #3 TCU come in the following weekend.
After a much needed 2 week break the Illini opens up Big Ten play by going to #26 Northwestern and then they hit the road for their final 2 non-conference matches against #4 Baylor in Indian Wells and Kentucky in Lexington. In notable B1G action Illinois welcomes in #23 Minnesota and Michigan while the Illini goes to #47 Indiana and #10 Ohio State.
Departing singles starters: Farris Gosea (1), Tim Kopinski (3), Ross Guignon/Blake Bazarnik (6)
Departing doubles starters: Kopinski (1), Gosea (2), Guignon (3)
Departing depth: None
In the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, North Carolina really put Illinois behind the 8-ball after taking the doubles point and 5 opening singles sets but the Illini clawed its way back into the match and took 5 second sets. Illinois went ahead 3-2 and had both Gosea and J Hiltzik into third sets but North Carolina’s Brayden Schnur and Ronnie Schneider turned them away and UNC took it 4-3 – recap
6. Esben Hess-Olesen (UNC 13.67) def. Toshiki Matsuya (ILL 13.40) 6-3, 6-2
Minnesota is hosting the Big Ten Tourney this year but they lost a lot so I don't think they'll have enough to win it – I think for Illinois to get past Ohio State they'd have to win at #6 singles which could be possible and probably sweep the top 3 which is also possible. Ohio State should be better in doubles and at 4 and 5 so the margin for error for Illinois is going to be razor thin assuming all the guys on both teams stay healthy. <br /><br />Probably could answer this question better in few months after I see how the Illini does in the first month of the season.
What are your thoughts on their chances in the big ten? Beating OSU in Columbus is probably too much to ask, but do they match up well enough to pull an upset in the big ten tournament?