Illinois men’s tennis prepares to host Purdue at 6 p.m. today at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Illinois, ahead of the team’s Senior Day match this Sunday.
Illinois has an impressive 106-11-1 all-time record over Purdue, with the first match between the two dating back to May 13, 1905. The Illini took the first match of the series with a convincing 6-0 win over the Boilermakers. Current Illinois head coach Brad Dancer has only lost once to Purdue, a 4-3 defeat on March 1, 2017, in West Lafayette.
After starting Big Ten play by losing three of their first four matches, the Illini have rebounded by going on a four-match win streak. The team’s coaching staff has attributed their resurgence after their rocky start to a resilient attitude and focused mindset.
“You have to have that short-term memory,” Illinois assistant coach Tim Kopinski said. “You get to play every single week, so you have to move on.”
In singles, the Illini have three players ranked in the top 100 of this week’s ITA rankings. Senior Hunter Heck and sophomore Kenta Miyoshi are ranked No. 41 and No. 98 respectively, and junior Karlis Ozolins landed at No. 25. Heck and Ozolins both moved up two spots from the previous week’s rankings, while Miyoshi jumped 10 spots to break back into the top 100.
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On the doubles court, the team is led by the duo of Heck and Ozolins who are ranked No. 6 in the country heading into this weekend. They’re joined in the rankings by the No. 35 tandem of redshirt senior Lucas Horve and graduate student Oliver Okonkwo. Despite Ozolins and Heck being ranked highly, Ozolins has not taken the court in either singles or doubles since the end of March.
Purdue has no ranked players in either singles or doubles. They are currently 7-13 and have lost three of their last four matches, with their sole win coming over Wisconsin, 4-2.
After the Illini’s match with the Boilermakers today, Illinois is set to play against Indiana on Sunday in Urbana for Senior Day.
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