CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois men’s tennis team stayed at home for the ITA Midwest Regional Championships at the Atkins Tennis Center, where Hunter Heck competed in the final day of competition in the men’s singles semifinal.
DAY ONE
Freshman Tyler Bowers competed in the qualifying round, powering through to the round of 16 with a convincing 6-0, 6-4 win against Cleveland State’s Carl Gedlitchka.
DAY TWO
Bowers bowed out to DePaul’s Shourya Verma, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 in the round of 16.
The Illinois pair of junior Alex Petrov and freshman Kenta Miyoshi fell to Northern Illinois’ Norlin/Knutson in the round of 64, 8-6.
Bowers and graduate student Nic Meister defeated Chicago State’s Pahwa/Hidalgo pair 8-2, while graduate student Oliver Okonkwo and sophomore Mathis Debru defeated Cleveland State’s Boyer/Abboud 8-4 in the round of 64.
All three Illini pairs competing advanced in the round of 32 with redshirt junior Lucas Horve and junior Hunter Heck defeating Michigan State’s Bayliss/Saye double, 8-6, Meister and Bowers defeating Notre Dame’s Fu/Zhang, 8-5, and Okonkwo and Debru defeating Sornlaksup/Galic of Toledo, 8-7 (5).
Heck and Horve as well as Okonkwo and Debru would move on to the doubles quarterfinals defeating Pratt/Popovic of Wisconsin 8-4 and Vollback/Tsai of Northern Illinois 8-2, respectively. Meister and Bowers fell to Ohio State’s Tracy/Lutschaunig, 8-3.
DAY THREE
In the round of 64 singles, five Illini advanced. Miyoshi defeated Western Michigan’s Fynn Lohse, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Debru oversaw victory over Clement Mainguy of Youngstown State, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Heck defeated Illinois State’s Arvid Hjalte, 6-1, 6-3. Meister defeated Marino Jakic of DuPaul, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (3). Petrov defeated Western Michigan’s Brogan Pierce, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Both Okonkwo and Horve bowed out with Okonkwo dropping to Gleb Blekher of Northwestern , 7-6 (3), 6-4, and Horve being forced to retire against Ben George of Western Michigan.
In the round of 32, Heck and Petrov both saw commanding victories. Heck defeated Natan Spear of Northwestern, 6-1, 6-3, while Petrov defeated Cleveland State’s Maxime Mareschal-Hay, 6-2, 6-2.
Meister, Miyoshi, and Debru all saw losses, with Meister dropping to Toledo’s Pawit Sornlaksup, 6-1, 6-2, Miyoshi losing to Jack Anthrop of Ohio State, 7-6 (3), 6-2, and Debru bowing out to Michigan’s Gavin Young,…
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