Illinois men’s tennis drops out of top 25, looks to rebound with three home matches
Photo courtesy of Illini Athletics
Oliver Stuart prepares to hit the ball during a meet at Atkins Tennis Center. Stuart won both of his singles matches during the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
February 3, 2022
Following Illinois’ winless weekend in Oxford, Mississippi for the ITA Kickoff Weekend, the Illini will host three matches at Atkins this week, against the Illinois State Redbirds, Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Last time out, the Illini suffered two defeats: a 4-2 loss to North Carolina State and a 4-1 defeat to Oklahoma saw the Illini drop out of the top 25 for the first time this season.
The team was less than satisfied with the weekend’s outcome and is looking this week to rebound back to a positive record.
“That’s not up to our standards,” said head coach Brad Dancer after the team’s loss to Oklahoma. “We didn’t compete up to the standards of our team. We didn’t behave up to the standards of our team.”
The Illini’s first chance to play up to the standards Dancer has alluded to is in Friday’s bout against the 0-6 Redbirds. In this battle against in-state rivals, the Illini boast a 54-1 record all time. The team’s only loss against the Redbirds was in 1973, and they will be looking to extend their win streak for another year with a win on Friday.
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Just a few hours after the match against the Redbirds, the Illini will welcome the Blue Devils to Atkins. The Blue Devils make the trip up from North Carolina boasting a 3-1 record, with the only loss coming at the hands of No. 13 South Carolina. They will be coming in ready to put up a fight against the Illini and really test to see if the team is living up to Dancer’s expectations. The last time these two met was in the early part of the 2020 season, when Duke won convincingly, 6-1.
The Illini’s final match of the weekend will be against the No. 17 Tar Heels on Saturday night. North Carolina is coming to Atkins off the back of a frustrating 4-0 defeat to No. 5 Ohio State last weekend at the ITA Kickoff Weekend and will be looking to get back to winning ways.
The Illini are no strangers to this Tar Heel lineup, having faced them just three weekends prior. In this match at Georgia Tech’s MLK Invite, the two sides split the singles matches evenly, with each team winning three. North Carolina’s lineup won all three doubles matches, but Illinois put up a huge fight against this lineup, and Saturday’s match will be a big match for this Illinois squad to make a statement.
The main bright spot for this Illinois lineup going into Friday and Saturday’s matches is graduate student Olivier Stuart, who helped win all three points the team won at the ITA Kickoff Weekend. Additionally, Stuart’s two singles wins were solid against ranked opponents, with a 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 31 Mason Beiler and a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 36 Martin Rocens. If the Illini are to take down all three of their opponents this weekend, Stuart will no doubt play a big part.
This weekend is a big one for the Illini and will set the tone for the rest of the season. Any losses this weekend will mean going nearly a month without a winning record, a feat which this team in recent years is not used to.
Atkins will see action all day Friday. The match against the Redbirds will take place at 1 p.m. and the Blue Devils at 6 p.m. Saturday will see the Illini play their last tennis of the weekend against the Tar Heels at 6 p.m.
