After a strong win against Notre Dame two weeks ago, Illinois men’s tennis was well-rested for its doubleheader on Friday. Illinois handily put away both Eastern Illinois and No. 14 Baylor.
Starting with Eastern Illinois, the doubles pairings were switched as senior Hunter Heck and redshirt senior Lucas Horve got off to a quick start with a 6-3 win in the books. At the same time, junior Karlis Ozolins and senior Alex Petrov swept with a 6-0 win, clinching the doubles point for Illinois.
Onto singles, the No. 46 sophomore Kenta Miyoshi quickly took down Eastern Illinois’ Pau Rivera. Concurrently, junior Mathis Debru swept away Thomas Wallace (6-1, 6-2). With one match left to finish the Panthers, freshman Tyler Bowers followed suit with his first game-winning victory for the Illini. Horve finished just after with a win over Zach White.
Illinois did not lose a single set in singles or doubles to Eastern Illinois. Separated by a match between Illinois women’s tennis and Washington, the men’s team took the floor a few hours later against Baylor.
The No. 2 duo got back together for this matchup and Heck and Ozolins put on a show. They took down Baylor’s Luc Koenig and Devin Badenhorst, 6-1. Two of the oldest players on the team, Horve and graduate student Oliver Okonkwo, clinched the doubles point. Their poise and leadership skills set the stage for the underclassmen to follow.
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Okonkwo and Miyoshi won in straight sets as singles progressed to Luc Koenig and Louis Bowden, respectively. However, in between these two games, No. 47 Hunter Heck fell to the Bears’ No. 83 Zsombor Velcz. With the game now at 3-1, No. 41 Ozolins took down Baylor’s No. 35. Tadeas Paroulek.
Even with the game decided, both coaches decided to keep the play going. Petrov came back from behind and won his math in a three-set thriller against No. 75 Devin Badenhorst.
Head coach Brad Dancer emphasized Baylor’s strength as a team and getting the win is an accomplishment. However, Illinois also has a huge threat looming on the horizon with No. 1 Ohio State next on the schedule.
“We’ve got so much respect for Baylor … their athletes and their coaches — they’re just a great team,” Dancer said. “Now we have more tremendous opportunities coming this week with No. 1 Ohio State this Wednesday. We’ve done a lot of practicing, now it’s time to compete.”
With another victory in the books for Illinois, the team is looking forward to taking on No. 1 Ohio State on Wednesday at the Atkins Tennis Center.
