CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 24 Fighting Illini men’s tennis team fell to Arizona State (14-11), 4-3, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in the Murr Athletics Center on Friday afternoon.
The Illini end the season with a 19-12 record.
“Thank you to Harvard for hosting a first class NCAA event,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “Big credit to Arizona State. They had guys step up and play well in critical spots. Tim Kopinski and I felt like we could have gotten more out of this team and when you feel that way as a coach, you know you need to do a better job preparing the men. That will be our focus in the off-season and moving forward. “
Doubles started off shaky with Oliver Okonkwo and Mathis Debru falling 6-0 to Murphy Cassone and Max McKennon.
Lucas Horve and Gabrielius Guzauskas turned it around, winning their match 7-5 over Nicola Cigna and Roi Ginat.
The Sun Devils clinched the doubles point, however, when Karlis Ozolins and Hunter Heck lost, 7-6 (5), to Jacob Bullard and Constantinos Koshis.
Heck made quick work with McKennon, finishing first with a 6-0, 6-1 score and evening up the match. Alex Petrov followed suit, taking his match, 6-1, 6-2 over Koshis.
Kenta Miyoshi took care of business on court six, beating Cigna, 6-2, 6-3. Ozolins then dropped his match to Cassone, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
Okonkwo dropped his match to Bullard 7-6 (5), 7-5, while William Mroz fell to Giant, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
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