Illinois’ No. 16 men’s tennis team launched into the 2013 dual meet season with two victories over Toledo and Ball State.
In Indianapolis, the Illinois and Toledo coaching staffs tested an alternative scoring format, where every game added to the cumulative score instead of each match. After sinking the Rockets 83-42, head coach Brad Dancer found the scoring experiment a success.
“Scoring format was a big positive,” Dancer said. “We’re looking to continue to try and do different things with that this year and next.”
Winning all four of the doubles matches put the Illini up quickly 24-12, but what helped were the pairs’ abilities to keep the other side from capturing many game wins. Sophomore Farris Gosea and freshman Alex Jesse claimed a dominant victory right at the start of 6-1 while freshmen Jared Hiltzik and Julian Childers finished them off 6-3.
While the Illini lost one singles match, strong wins by sophomore Ross Guignon, 10-1, and freshman Brian Page, 10-2, finished off the Rockets and sent Illinois back on the road for its second match of the day, this time against Ball State in Carmel, Ind.
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The Cardinals beat down the Illini early, taking two doubles victories over pairs Page and Hiltzik 8-3 and Guignon and senior Bruno Abdelnour 8-5.
“We get beat up every time in doubles,” Dancer said. “We’ve got to improve our execution.”
Illinois returned fire in singles with Hiltzik, winning 7-5, 6-2 leaving the match tied 3-3. Abdelnour gave the Illini the final push over the Cardinals in a tough win, 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(1), ending the match 4-3.
“We were rescued a little bit by Bruno,” Dancer said. “There’s a lot of times that Bruno’s done that, and I’m proud of him for keeping his composure and also playing his best tennis.”
Abdelnour said he felt the pressure but put it out of mind, found his focus and let his body do its thing.
Still, he was not happy about his performance.
“I was warming up in the morning and kind of felt something in my ankle, but it wasn’t really something I wanted to tell the coaches,” Abdelnour said. “I just wanted to keep tough and battle through it.”
J.J. can be reached at [email protected] and @TheWilson9287.
