Illinois (4-2) emerged victorious on Saturday in its doubleheader against Clemson (8-1) and Notre Dame (8-2) at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana for its first home matches of the season. The doubleheader comes before Illinois faces Michigan (5-4) on Saturday at Atkins once again.
Illini defeat Tigers
The Illini faced off against the Tigers at 11 a.m. Clemson entered the match with an undefeated record, recording sweeps in four of its eight matches thus far. The Tigers had also beaten two ranked opponents this season: No. 22 Michigan State (4-4) and No. 17 South Carolina (6-3).
Doubles troubles
The Illini continued their uphill battle in doubles performances this year. They have struggled to win more than one doubles match so far. On the other hand, the Tigers have performed fiercely this season. They have lost only three doubles matches in eight duals.
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Two early losses to Clemson marked a tough start to the match and a point for the Tigers. Illinois’ senior Mathis Debru and junior Kenta Miyoshi fell to Clemson’s senior Maxwell Smith and sophomore Noa Vukadin 6-4 in the No. 1 doubles match.
Shortly after, the Tigers’ graduate student Max Damm and freshman Viktor Markov also defeated the Illini duo of redshirt sophomore Tyler Bowers and redshirt freshman Zach Viiala 6-4. This kicked off the matchup with a 1-0 lead for Clemson.
Even with an unfinished doubles game against the Tigers, redshirt junior William Mroz and sophomore Jeremy Zhang have had historically strong doubles performances. The duo tabbed the Fighting Illini Invite’s most outstanding doubles team after going 2-0 in doubles on the first day of the event back in January.
Singles goes down to the wire
First off the court was Zhang in his match against Markov, winning in two straight sets 6-4. Zhang has done wonders to start the season, helping Illinois win one of its only doubles points with Mroz this season against No. 14 Tennessee in a 6-4 win.
Clemson’s sophomore Marko Mesarovic then bested Viiala 7-5, 7-2, but Bowers’ win against Clemson’s junior Romain Gales (6-3, 7-6, (10-8)) tied the teams once again.
Later, Clemson’s sophomore Wissam Abderrahman won against Mroz (4-6, 6-3, 6-2), and Debru fought hard against Smith to tie up the score again between the Illini and the Tigers.
All eyes ended up on the No. 1 match, where Miyoshi and Vukadin fought in a three-set tiebreak match. Close first and second sets led to a final score of (5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)), with Miyoshi securing his second clinch of the season.
Fighting Illini fight Fighting Irish
A match against Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish at 6 p.m. concluded the day, with a hard-fought Illini win ending the Fighting Irish’s six-match win streak. Before Saturday, the Fighting Irish had an impressive 8-1 start to the season and left South Bend for their first away game.
Doubles again
The campaign to win a doubles point for Illini tennis continued to have setbacks as Notre Dame swept the No. 1 and 2 matches. Though head coach Brad Dancer shuffled his deck of players from the morning, the Illini had no luck against the Fighting Irish, particularly at the net. The Fighting Irish have shown a winning hand on the doubles court, only conceding points twice this season.
Debru and Mroz were up against the Fighting Irish’s junior Sebastian Dominko and sophomore Kyran Magimay in the first match. Dominko, who plays singles for Notre Dame, was explosive at the net. With quick hands and overheads, the Illini duo could only react to him at the forefront. Often pushed back to the baseline, Debru and Mroz were forced to play defense constantly against the Fighting Irish, leading to a 6-4 loss to start doubles.
Notre Dame’s freshman Peter Nad started a bit uncertain at the net but quickly found his ground and split-stepped his way to victory against Bowers and Viiala. The latter had well-timed poaches, and Thompson had strong cross courts from the baseline, but the Illini ultimately lost 6-3 in the No. 1 match, ceding the doubles point to the Fighting Irish.
Another nail-biting win for the Illini
The Illini then geared up for a showdown against the Fighting Irish in the singles matches. Strong reactions from all the players flooded the courts — frustrated expressions, constant motivation from Dancer and fatigue from the players after their long matches against Clemson were seen.
Debru won for the second time that day in the No. 6 match, defeating the Fighting Irish’s freshman Luis Llorens Saracho in straight sets (6-3, 6-3) to put the Illini on the scoreboard. The No. 5 match also saw an Illinois win, with Viiala besting Notre Dame’s Magimay (6-2, 6-2).
Miyoshi’s win against Dominko (6-4, 7-5) came next in the No. 1 match, with a first-set win by Miyoshi carrying momentum into the second set. However, two Fighting Irish wins in the No. 3 match and No. 4 match evened the team score at 3-3.
Evoking déjà vu from earlier in the day, Illinois was at match point again, with Mroz against Notre Dame’s senior Yu Zhang in the No. 2 match. Despite Zhang winning the first set, Mroz maintained his composure, taking the second and third sets to secure Illinois’ second win of the day.
Takeaways
Although the Illini left the day with two wins, doubles has consistently been a struggle throughout the season. The team must step up their footwork, reactions and aggressiveness at the net. Going for poaches is always a big benefit, but if done too frequently, it will make them predictable.
In addition to approaching the net with less fear, it is also important to get into the heads of their opponents when they are at the front, too. Rather than giving the ball to those ready to strike back, the Illini need to hit the ball hard and away from their rivals.
On the positive side, the baseline shots from the Illini were solid. It was a rare sight to see someone make an unforced error, and such consistency and stamina will benefit the team in the long run, especially if they run into prolonged matches in the next few games.
