URBANA, Ill. – No. 19 Fighting Illini men’s tennis lost, 4-3, to No. 18 Michigan State Saturday afternoon at Atkins Tennis Center.
Illinois falls to 10-7 on the year and 1-2 in Big Ten action. Michigan State goes to 17-3 overall and 3-0 in conference play.
“Congratulations to Michigan State,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “They played a really tough match. I thought we put a lot of score-pressure on them early, but when they capitalized on the first set tiebreakers on courts three and five, it slowed our momentum.
We need to continue to be in more of these matches where we have opportunities to push through and then respond with our second and third winds. There is always something left and we have to find that gear.”
Hunter Heck and William Mroz started doubles with a 6-4 win over No. 68-ranked Ronnie Hohmann and Sebastien Collard. Mathis Debru and Kenta Miyoshi clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 victory over Aristotelis Thanos and Graydon Lair.
No. 47-ranked Heck kept the momentum up for Illinois, defeating No. 34-ranked Hohmann 6-4, 7-5. Miyoshi continued the hot streak by beating Collard 6-3, 0-6, 6-0 and putting Illinois up 3-0.
After three straight Illini losses, No. 11-ranked Ozan Baris clinched the match for the Spartans with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 31-ranked Karlis Ozolins.
Up Next
Illinois will continue Big Ten action tomorrow, taking on Michigan at 12 p.m. CT at Atkins Tennis…
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