LEXINGTON, Ky. – Illinois men’s tennis fell to No. 5 Kentucky, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at Boone Tennis Complex.
The Illini end the season 17-10 on the year.
“What an awesome heavyweight match,” head coach Brad Dancer said. It felt like we had them down for the count on so many occasions and, just as Kentucky has done all year, they just kept fighting. Huge credit to them. We had opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on and that was the difference. We put ourselves in position all year long but just never seemed to get over the final hurdle. I’m proud to coach this team today., they represented our school and team with immense fighting spirit.”
Illinois started off the match strong, taking the doubles point. Mathis Debru and Kenta Miyoshi started the momentum with a 6-2 win over Eli Stephenson and Jaden Weekes. No. 12-ranked Hunter Heck and Karlis Ozolins clinched the doubles point, beating No. 4-ranked Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer, 6-2.
After an Ozolins loss to start singles, Miyoshi defeated Weekes, 6-1, 6-4.
Lucas Horve dropped his match, letting Kentucky tie the match at 2-2. Petrov got the Illini back into the lead after a 6-3, 6-4 win over Charlelie Cosnet.
No. 46-ranked Heck lost to No. 80-ranked Lapadat before Oliver Okonkwo dropped his match to Jack Loutit, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Up next
Heck and Ozolins will be participating in both the singles and doubles NCAA Tournament starting on May 20 at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Okla.
Results
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