Illinois (0-1) faced off against the Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-0) in the season opener at home this weekend. Going into this match, the Illini were the heavy underdogs; not only were the Bulldogs ranked seventh in the nation, but they also brought back nearly a full lineup of players from last year’s top-eight finish in the NCAA tournament. Illinois eventually fell 5-2 after three hours of fantastic tennis from both teams.
The order for the lineups was completely up in the air going into this match, with five freshmen competing.
“Open competition for them … all the way through yesterday,” said head coach Brad Dancer. “It wasn’t until this morning that we made the final lineup.”
New players carved their way into the lineup. Freshman Adam Jilly partnered with senior Kenta Miyoshi on court one. Court two had two freshmen, Gabriel Debru and Sasha Colleu. Court three had senior William Mroz and redshirt sophomore Zach Viiala.
The first point of the day went to Miyoshi, with an ace on his first serve. Illinois remained dominant with its serves, winning game one on every court. Mississippi State came back on courts one and three, but the Frenchmen Debru and Colleu immediately got a break on sophomore Niccolo Baroni and senior Mario Martinez Serrano.
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Debru and Colleu dictated every point with fantastic serves and net play, sweeping the match 6-0. Being the first time the pair had played together, it was a dominant outing.
“It’s a pleasure to share the court with him,” Colleu said of Debru. “And a pleasure to get the ‘W’ also at home.”
Miyoshi and Jilly secured the doubles point, getting a break to go up 3-1, followed by Miyoshi getting back-to-back aces to win game five. The two teams then traded serves, with Illinois winning 6-2. Court three had its match cut short, tied up at three all.
For singles, All-American Miyoshi continued to lead the team on court one. After that, the lineup was truly a mystery.
“It’s been open competition because our team is so tight from a level standpoint,” Dancer said.
Dancer ended up lining up Debru, Mroz, Jilly, Colleu and junior Jeremy Zhang from courts two to six following Miyoshi.
On court one, Miyoshi and senior Benito Sanchez Martinez fought a grueling battle with long rallies, dragging players from one side to the other. Miyoshi eventually lost his serve, going down 4-3. Unable to tie it up, he dropped the first set 6-4. Set two started poorly, with Miyoshi unable to finish on an overhead, allowing Martinez to stay in. Martinez eventually took the hard-fought match in three sets.
Debru had the bench behind him all meet long. He jumped out to an early lead with multiple dominant overheads that senior Petar Jovanovic could not return. Debru got broken going down 3-1 but immediately fought back. With another overhead, Debru won a 40-all point to break. Debru won one of the longest rallies of the night, keeping the ball alive with multiple defensive lobs that nearly scraped the ceiling. Debru went on to win set one 6-4 but dropped the next two.
On court three, Mroz was serving bullets. He didn’t drop a serve in game one. Mroz’s power on his serve is one of his strongest attributes, rifling out a 128 mph ace in the match. Mroz later served 134 mph before overhitting on his approach shot, marking the first time an Illini had their serve broken all night. Mroz kept things tight on his next game at the line but double-faulted on a deuce point. Back-to-back breaks sealed his fate, as he lost set one 6-1 and set two 6-4.
Jilly played a close match, with the first set immediately going to a 7-point tie break. Jilly came up short in the race to seven, losing set one 7-6 (7-5). The second set made the first seem like a fluke. Jilly won his serve and followed up with a break to go up 2-0. Jilly continued to lead the second set, winning 6-2. He dropped set three 6-2.
The remaining two courts were very uneven matches, and only one went the way of the Illini. Colleu dominated his match. He got back-to-back breaks on his opponent to go up 3-0 en route to a 6-3 set one win. Those three games were all Mississippi State would get on court five, as the freshman bageled his opponent in set two to deliver Illinois its first and only singles point of the meet.
The sweep is the first step towards Colleu’s lofty goals for his season, which include establishing himself in the lineup, going undefeated at home and taking home Big Ten rookie of the year honors.
Illinois faced third-set troubles this meet. Dancer cited experience as something that goes a long way in the final set, with two freshmen dropping third sets.
The Illini next travel to New York City, where they take on the Columbia Lions (1-1) in the ITA Kickoff.
