KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - The No. 14 Tennessee men’s tennis team defeated Illinois, 4-2, Saturday afternoon in the opening round of ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Vols dropped the doubles point, but the singles part of the match was filled with some intense competition.

No. 14 Tennessee (4-1) defeated Illinois (0-1), 4-2, on Saturday at Goodfriend Tennis Center in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. Alejandro Moreno earned a win for Tennessee with a, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, victory on court five.

Tennessee will host Michigan on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in the ITA Kickoff Weekend championship match. The Vols and the No. 25 Wolverines will have a lot on the line for this match, which includes a spot into the Indoor National Championships later this season.

The Vols likely would catapult onto the No. 1 seed line with a win at Auburn, but it would carry weight beyond the immediate effect on bracketology. A win at Auburn would give Tennessee two marquee road wins on its NCAA Tournament profile come Selection Sunday. The other was a 66-64 win at Illinois On dec. 14.

Tennessee dropped the point in doubles to start the afternoon, but came back to win four points in singles. The Vols saw Jan Kobierski and Alan Jesudason step up when they were down early in doubles, but Tennessee lost two close matches to give Illinois the point.

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Tennessee basketball can make a No. 1 seed case with a win against Mississippi State on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi.

Jacobi 6-12 0-0 14, Kalle 1-3 2-2 4, Fruster 8-15 0-0 18, Shelton 1-6 0-1 2, Stapleton 4-9 6-10 14, Sawyer 1-5 4-4 6, Curtis 3-8 0-1 6, Connor 0-2 0-0 0, Bolis 0-1 0-0 0, Prost 0-0 1-2 1, McMorris 0-0 0-0 0, O'Connor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-61 13-20 65.

Eastern Illinois Panthers (5-12, 1-5 OVC) at Tennessee State Tigers (6-12, 2-5 OVC) Nashville, Tennessee; Saturday, 4:30 p.m. EST BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Tigers -5.5; over/under is 142.5 BOTTOM ...

St. John's at Georgetown, 6:30 p.m. Cent. Michigan at Buffalo, 7 p.m. Providence at Seton Hall, 7 p.m. Dayton at St. Bonaventure, 8 p.m. North Carolina at Pittsburgh, 9 p.m.

Illinois freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr. dunks over Northwestern center Keenan Fitzmorris on Sunday. Johnson produced 15 points and nine rebounds in the Illini’s 83-74 win in Champaign. Scott Richey covers college basketball for The News-Gazette. His email is [email protected], and you can follow him on Twitter ( @srrichey ).

Illinois is ranked 18th in the new AP Top 25 poll, released Monday. The Illini (14-6, 6-4 Big Ten) also are 20th in the coaches' poll.