Illinois men’s tennis has two competitions this upcoming weekend, with the team sending redshirt junior Lucas Horve, sophomore Mathis Debru and freshmen Tyler Bowers and Kenta Miyoshi to Michigan State to compete in the Drobac/Beeman Invite. The team will also be sending graduate students Nic Meister and Oliver Okonkwo as well as juniors Alex Petrov and Hunter Heck to the ITA All-American meet in Tulsa, Okla.

Horve is confident about his upcoming performance in his first competition this year at the Beeman Drobac Invite, as well as how hard the entire team is working together right now.

“A lot of the other guys have been playing in the past few weeks and I’ve just been super eager to join them and show off my skills as well at these tournaments,” Horve said. 

The invite will be Horve’s first tournament he has competed in so far this season.

One thing Horve mentioned was the work he was doing one on one with head coach Brad Dancer in order to focus on specific aspects of his game to improve while he wasn’t competing. He spoke highly of the coaches and the help they provide to the whole team.

“Getting on the court with the coaches it’s really the minute stuff that you kind of work on,” Horve said. “It’s a very specific ball that most of the guys are having the coaches feed them.”

Horve shared how practicing one on one with the coaches has really benefited him to be able to now compete after his previous injury. After mentioning how beneficial the one-on-one practices have been, he talked about how much his teammates have also looked to improve with their coaching staff.

“We have a lot of guys who want to be here, want to get better, and want to just put as many hours on the court as possible,” Horve said.

The Illini compete at the Beeman Drobac Invite in East Lansing, Mich., from Friday to Sunday, while they begin competing in the ITA All-American in Tulsa, Okla., from Saturday to next Sunday.

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