Hailing from Perth, Australia, Zach Viiala joined Illinois men’s tennis last January before redshirting the spring semester and making his collegiate debut on Sept. 13.
Eight games was all it took for Viiala to settle in, as he rebounded from a 6-0, 2-0 hole and split the remaining 10 games of his first match. Despite an overall 6-0, 7-5 loss, Viiala made enough progress to finish his first weekend with three straight-set wins. Winning out also left Viiala as the last man in the consolation bracket.
The following week, Viiala headed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, with senior Mathis Debru, redshirt sophomore Tyler Bowers and sophomore Jeremy Zhang. The group was accompanied by head coach Brad Dancer while competing at Harvard’s Chowderfest.
Throughout the weekend, Illinois faced opponents from Yale, Harvard, Notre Dame, SMU, Cornell and Boise State.
Viiala continued to roll and picked up his fourth consecutive win during the first day of Chowderfest. On top of having to power through a tiebreaker game (6-0, 1-6, 14-12), downing Yale’s No. 50 Vignesh Gogineni marked the first-ranked win of Viiala’s career.
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Seven matches into his career, Viiala described the intensity of college tennis as more extreme than what he is used to.
“It’s more intense than professional tennis,” Viiala said. “The tennis isn’t as clean. I would say it’s more of a battle; it’s like going to war with the other guy. It’s a lot of fun.”
The Illini were dominant against the Bulldogs on day one, with Debru and Bowers also winning their singles matches. The two squads split in doubles, with Debru and Zhang claiming a 6-3 win while Bowers and Viiala lost 6-3.
The second day brought two more ranked matches for Illinois. In singles, Viiala was up against Harvard’s No. 68 Benjamin Privara, while Bowers and Viiala were against No. 84 Privara and Masato Perera in doubles. Illinois was defeated in both matches, but Bowers and Zhang added a pair of singles wins to soften the blow.
Illinois rebounded with an untouchable finish to Chowderfest and won all six matches it played on Sunday. Shuffling doubles teams paid off, as Debru and Viiala teamed up for a 6-3 win, while Bowers and Zhang ground out a 7-6(5) victory of their own.
In singles, Illinois did a little bit of everything. Bowers and Viiala edged out a pair of three-set victories compared to a straight-set win for Zhang and a super tiebreaker for Debru.
The Illini finished the weekend 9-3 in singles and 3-3 in doubles. Viiala’s 2-1 record in singles was also good for his first collegiate singles title.
“It’s really early,” Dancer said. “We’re talking about one moment at a time, but I think that right now, we’ve got good energy. Bowers’ emotional maturation stands out to me; he’s come a long, long way. Also, Zach’s problem-solving in matches — he’s been very communicative, and we’re working through problems. It’s been enjoyable to see a freshman be that calm in terms of his dialog with the coaching staff.”
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