The Gators extended their winning streak to six matches, when they defeated Illinois Friday night in the Land of Lincoln.
No. 3 Florida dominated the Fighting Illini (1-4) from start to finish at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Illinois.
However, this match was different from others because it was played indoors. UF had previously played indoors once this season when it swept Stetson.
The Gators (8-1) will also play their upcoming match against Purdue on Sunday indoors.
Florida once again started off the match strong, taking the doubles point for the ninth-consecutive time.
Juniors Josh Goodger and Duarte Vale defeated Lucas Horve and Vuk Budic 6-3 on Court 3 to kick off doubles play. Next, No. 13 junior Oliver Crawford and sophomore Sam Riffice clinched the doubles point when they beat No. 42 Aleks Kovacevic and Alex Brown 6-4 on Court 1 to give UF a 1-0 lead.
In singles play, the Gators started off strong. They took the first set on five out of six courts.
The only UF player to fall in the first was senior Johannes Ingildsen, who lost 6-3 to Fletcher Scott on Court 5.
No. 90 Lukas Greif was close to losing the first set on Court 6 when Horve forced a tiebreaker. Greif prevailed in the tiebreaker, though, winning the first set 7-6.
But Illinois would not go away easily. It fought back to force a decisive third set on four courts.
No. 23 Crawford finished his singles match first after he beat No. 78 Kovacevic on Court 1, 6-3, 6-3. No. 11 Vale would close out his contest second, defeating No. 91 Zeke Clark 6-3, 6-4 to put Florida one point away from sealing its winning streak to six.
On Court 2, No. 4 Riffice won the crucial third set 6-3 to cement the match victory for the Gators. He topped No. 18 Brown 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
After falling in the first set, Ingildsen stormed back and grabbed the final two sets on Court 5 (3-6, 6-2, 6-1).
Greif fell in the second set on Court 6 but bounced back to grab the win in the third set (7-6, 0-6, 6-4).
Finally, Andy Andrade assured the sweep for Florida beating No. 48 Siphosothando Montsi 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
UF returns to action when they travel to West Lafayette, Indiana, Sunday morning.
Follow Zachary on Twitter @zacharyahuber and contact him at zhuber@alligator.org
Editor's note: this article was updated to reflect the men's tennis team's next match is Sunday, not Monday.
Lukas Greif
