The No. 23 ranked Illini traveled to Edwardsville for their first two dual meets of the season Saturday, where they took on the Mocs of Chattanooga and the Cougars of Southern Illinois.

Going into the weekend, the team was coming off a three week gap without competition. After such a solid start to the season with high finishes at the Michigan State Open, head coach Mike Poeta has taken this break in competition to work on the mental side of the game with his players.

“Honestly, the biggest thing is the fact that nothing is given, everything is earned,” Poeta said. “We’ve got great technique, we’ve got great kids, but we just need to give all the fight we have inside of us, and we will come out on top.”

The fight that Poeta preached throughout this break was put on display all day Saturday, as the Illini defeated the Mocs 19-12, and dominated the Cougars 35-6. 

The Illini started off their day of matches in an exciting comeback against the Mocs, where they found themselves trailing 12-3 with five matches left. The Illini battled back, winning five straight, with help from strong performances by redshirt junior Nikita Nepomnyashchiy, who won his match by a score of 10-2 while the Illini were tied 12-12, and sophomore Luke Luffman, who closed out the match for the Illini, winning his match 6-1. 

Just a few hours after the exciting comeback, the Illini took on the Cougars of Southern Illinois as they looked to grab their second win of the day. The Illini were ahead from the getgo in this match, as they received back-to-back forfeit wins at 125 and 133. The Illini would start this match up 12-0, losing only two matches total in their match against the Cougars. 

With these two wins, the No. 23 ranked Illini will move to 2-0 on the season. While the Illini are sure to move up in the rankings, coach Poeta is adamant that the team not let being ranked in the top 25 affect their game.

“A lot of times they just go off the past results, and we haven’t had enough of the season to really show where we are at” Poeta said. “We try not to let any external things add pressure to us, so we just look at it as a simple approach: going out there and doing your job. The rankings will take care of themselves.”

Another three week break now awaits the Illini. The team has just one more competition left before going into conference play in just over a month. The Illini will hope to carry the positive early season momentum into the Midlands Championship on the Dec. 29, where they will be polishing their skills for conference play just two weeks after.

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