Illinois head men’s tennis coach Craig Tiley had only one goal for the three Illini who traveled to the Louisville Fall Invitational – to play at least 15 matches.

After an “unusually slow start” to the fall tennis season, Tiley said he wanted the men to gain more match experience before the fall season slipped away. During the fall, the men focus on individual improvement before the start of the hectic dual matches and championship tournaments during the spring season.

The trio of senior Evan Zeder and freshmen Brandon Davis and Andrew Eklov did not disappoint him.

“I was fortunate to get to play seven matches and that we were able to achieve our goals for the week,” Zeder said.

Davis reached the semifinals of his flight, where he lost to Sebastian Aspillaga of IU-Southeast 6-2, 4-6, 4-6.

His teammates fared slightly better, advancing to the finals of their flights. Zeder reached the Flight ‘A’ finals with wins over Chaitu Malempati of Iowa and Nicolas Houard of Louisville. Eklov defeated Morehead State’s Adam Storti and Iowa’s Bart van Monsjou on the way to the championship of the Flight ‘B’ finals.

The men’s winning streak ended there.

Louisville’s Slavko Radman beat Zeder 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Marcus Sundh of Kentucky handed Eklov his only loss of the tournament. Sundh bested Eklov 7-5, 7-6 (3).

But Tiley said he’s not disappointed.

“Evan’s playing the best tennis he’s ever played,” said Tiley, whose main objective was to get the men more experience before the end of the individual fall season and the beginning of the dual-format spring season.

The athletes appreciated the extra competition and received a confidence boost from advancing through several rounds of competition.

“I got a couple of good wins and that will give me more confidence,” Zeder said. “I’ve been working hard not to put so much pressure on myself and just concentrate on hitting every shot when I go out.”

The smaller team also gave the men time to focus on their individual goals and get to watch each other compete, Zeder said. The Illini were also able to become closer as a group, cheering for each other and practicing and training together in the week leading up to the tournament, while other members of the team competed in the All-American tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn.

“The freshmen are really great players,” said Zeder, who joined Davis to compete in doubles. “They didn’t have the results that they wanted, but they played a lot of matches and got a lot of match experience.”