After a laborious spring season that saw Illinois (15-11, 7-6) take on 24 duals in 12 weeks, it headed to Columbus, Ohio to kick off the postseason. Illinois’ Big Ten tournament run began with the first round Thursday morning when they faced Oregon (13-13, 5-9).
The Illini breezed past the Ducks with a dominating 4-1 win, advancing to the quarterfinals. This meant Illinois faced its most formidable foe of the season — No. 6 Ohio State (26-3, 13-0) Friday morning. With a close 3-4 loss, the Illini’s season record against the Buckeyes fell to 0-3, ending their Big Ten tournament run.
Doubles resurgence
The postseason is a different environment from the regular season. With every game being a knockout, the intensity is dialed up to the highest level. Illinois managed to ride that high-intensity wave in Columbus, defending one of its season’s biggest weaknesses.
Illinois lost the doubles point in 12 out of its 24 regular season duals. In the past, head coach Brad Dancer has emphasized the importance of the doubles point and how it sets the tone for the rest of the dual.
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The team has tried 21 different doubles pairings this season, and some have been successful. Yet in duals, Illinois has gone 32-29 in doubles matches, barely above .500. But, with the season on the line, the Illini locked in and managed to grab the doubles point in both Big Ten matches in Columbus.
The postseason intensity demanded a high level of tennis, but Illinois was ready for it. One of its newest doubles pairings — redshirt sophomore Tyler Bowers and senior Mathis Debru led the charge. They opened the board with a clinical 6-3 win on court one, improving to 2-0 in doubles.
“Our toughness in that match was good to see,” Dancer said. “The guys are making progress. Our leadership all year long has been centered around Will, Kenta and Mathis. Will didn’t play in that match, but Kenta and Mathis stepped up.”
The Australian duo of redshirt freshman Zach Viiala and sophomore Jeremy Zhang won on court three to secure the doubles point for Illinois. The momentum carried into a tough matchup the next morning against Ohio State.
“It was awesome that the Aussies were able to clinch the doubles point for us,” Dancer said. “And then Max put the finishing touches on that match. He has not had that many opportunities, so to see him step up and play great tennis and get that win — that was pretty awesome for him.”
The Illini lost the doubles round in both their duals against the Buckeyes this season. This time was different; they made adjustments. Illinois debuted a different doubles lineup that Ohio State hadn’t faced before.
Junior Kenta Miyoshi and freshman Max Mroz won on court three to open proceedings for Illinois. It was the pair’s second doubles win in four matches. Bowers and Debru continued their unbeaten run by clinching a tiebreaker on court one to seal the point for Illinois.
“Max has really grown in his doubles,” Dancer said. “He and Kenta have been making a great team. So, we have a lot of positive things happening in doubles. Debru and Bowers have gone 3-0 now in doubles together, so they’ve done really really well.”
Close but no cookie
Illinois took care of Oregon in singles, winning three matches. Two of the victories were straight-set wins. Miyoshi improved his singles record to 16-4 with another impressive performance. Barring Debru’s pair of 6-2 sets, it was a fairly competitive round where Illinois was able to hold its nerves.
The Illini had already taken care of the Buckeyes in the doubles round and needed to win three out of the six singles matches to advance to the Big Ten semifinals. Viiala did his part, grabbing a straight-set singles win to level the scoreline 2-2 after Ohio State’s two early wins.
No. 14 Miyoshi backed up the Australian freshman’s efforts by grabbing a comeback singles win against Ohio State’s No. 12 All-American sophomore Aidan Kim. Miyoshi lost to Kim earlier this season with a shutout 6-0, 6-0 match. On Friday, Miyoshi was out for vengeance.
He lost 6-2 in the first set but quickly made adjustments. Miyoshi rushed back into the contest and gained an overwhelming advantage. He won the second set 6-2 and finished things off with a blowout 6-0 win in the third set. This extraordinary win not only grabbed another important point for Illinois, but also meant that Miyoshi defeated a higher ranked opponent.
Illinois needed one more win to round off an impressive victory, but Ohio State took care of business. The Buckeyes won on courts five and three to advance to the semifinals. Although the Illini lost, they got closer to the Buckeyes than they had at any point this season. This bodes well for them going to the all-important NCAA tournament.
“The reality is we got two wins and we needed three,” Dancer said. “We just weren’t able to do that. It was really frustrating and I think we had some opportunities. Bowers had strong leads in both sets. I think Zhang had some really good opportunities in the first set to take the first set. Those guys take those first two sets, that starts to put a lot of pressure on the Buckeyes. We could have really forced them to come back and then be in a tough situation.”
Nationals time
The NCAA tournament bracket was published Monday. Illinois finds itself on a more difficult side of the bracket. It will face Oklahoma (16-10) on Friday in Fort Worth, Texas. If Illinois gets past Oklahoma, it would most likely have a major threat waiting in the second round.
The 2024 NCAA tournament champion and No. 2 seed TCU (22-3) is on the same side of the bracket and should have the upper hand on its opposition. Illinois will want to take its learnings from the season and put together a postseason push. After all, the NCAA tournament is an unpredictable place.
“We get a little bit of the advantage that we’ve been playing recently, right?” Dancer said. “So we just finished playing. We have to keep going and I think that can be advantageous. So we have to use that wherever we go, whoever we play against to figure out how we can be the most fresh and most ready as we go into those matches.”
