In a big doubleheader from this weekend, Illinois men’s tennis competed against Toledo and No. 10 Kentucky on Saturday. Illinois soundly defeated Toledo in the afternoon 4-0 and had leads in two of the three unfinished matches.
Junior Mathis Debru and sophomore Kenta Miyoshi set the tempo early for the Illini and took down Cole Cozens and Matias Olivero. They only let the opponents get a single game and finished 6-1. The super seniors Oliver Okonkwo and Lucas Horve finished and clinched doubles against Poonthong Komolpisut and Charlie Snow. They also finished their match 6-1. With these two veterans on the team emerging as great doubles partners, they are also the leaders and must continue to set the tone throughout the season.
The singles against Toledo were just as successful. The upperclassmen, senior Hunter Heck, junior Karlis Ozolins and junior William Mroz all took down their opponents soundly. Heck played last and gave Illinois the final point needed for victory.
With the momentum and team synergy high, Illinois moved on to face Kentucky. In the evening matches, the vets Horve and Okonkwo started strong and stomped through Taha Baadi and Matt Rankin. With being their last season, they want to continue the Illinois tradition and finish off strong. Debru and Miyoshi followed, and in a hard-fought battle took down Eli Stephenson and Jaden Weekes 7-6 (8). Even though Ozolins/Heck lost a tough set 6-4 to JJ Mercer/Joshua Lapadat, Illinois entered singles with a 1-0 lead.
Ozolins and Heck strengthened the lead to 3-0 and took down both of their singles opponents, respectively. Unfortunately, with just a single win needed, Okonkwo went down to Kentucky’s Charlelie Cosnet (6-3, 6-2) on court four, and Mroz followed suit soon after (4-6, 6-3, 6-3). Freshman Jeremy Zhang lost to Matt Rankin in straight sets, tying the game. Kentucky completed the comeback with Taha Baadi defeating Illinois’ No. 17 ranked Miyoshi in a three-set battle.
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Despite the loss, head coach Brad Dancer was proud of his team for fighting strong.
“Big credit to Kentucky,” Dancer said. “We had a great crowd tonight. We won the doubles point after both teams had multiple match points, so we had a lot of momentum on our side, but I think Kentucky was just a little bit tougher, a little bit guttier than we were down the stretch.”
Even though Illinois faced a difficult loss against Kentucky, it displayed that the talent exists to compete against strong opponents. With a strong doubles lineup clinching both doubles points on Saturday, Illinois needs to work on finishing games strong in singles. There is a difficult schedule ahead, and Illinois must continue competing with a chip on its shoulder.
The ITA Kickoff Weekend will occur in Chapel Hill, North Carolina next weekend, where the Illini will travel to face No. 14 ranked UNC. They will also face ranked No. 23 Florida or No. 15 Wake Forest on the same weekend.
