Auburn drops close match to Illinois

Box Score
Auburn drops close match to IllinoisAuburn drops close match to Illinois
David Gray/Auburn Tigers

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Men’s tennis fell in a tight match to Illinois on Sunday morning during the consolation match of ITA Kickoff Weekend at the Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. Auburn claimed the doubles point before Illinois came back with four singles wins to claim the team victory.

Auburn started the match strong during the doubles point, jumping out to early leads on each of the top two courts. On court one, Will Nolan and Billy Blaydes took an early lead on No. 52 Tyler Bowers and Zach Viiala before claiming a dominant 6-1 win. The victory marked the 13th win of the season for the Tigers’ top doubles team. On court two, Alex Frusina and Joey Phillips bounced back from a doubles loss on Saturday by defeating Kenta Miyoshi and Mathis Debru 6-3. The freshman duo jumped out to a 4-1 lead before ultimately claiming their third dual match doubles win together as well as the doubles point for the Tigers.

In singles, Frusina came back from trailing in the first set 3-1 to win by claiming five straight games over Jeremy Zhang. With the second set tied at four, the Auburn freshman then won each of the next two games to earn the straight set victory. With the win, Frusina now holds a 9-3 overall singles record this season and remains perfect in dual matches at 4-0.

Frusina was the only Tiger to win his respective opening set, as the Fighting Illini then won in straight sets on courts four and one to tie the match. On court two, Blaydes forced a tiebreaker in the second set against No. 30 William Mroz but ultimately dropped the close tiebreaker 8-6. Mroz’s victory gave Illinois a 3-2 advantage and its first lead of the match.

Auburn’s Nicholas Heng forced a third set with Mathis Debru with a 6-3 second set win while Hamza Nasridinov’s back-and-forth second set with Viiala was decided in a tiebreaker. Viiala prevailed in the tiebreaker 7-3 to clinch the match win for the Fighting Illini on court five.

The loss drops Auburn to a 2-2 record this season while Illinois improved to 1-1.

Up next, the Tigers will travel to play Middle Tennessee State on Friday afternoon before returning home to play a doubleheader against Tulsa and Alabama State on Sunday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.

 

Illinois 4, Auburn 2

Singles Results:

  1. #14 Kenta Miyoshi (ILLINI) def. Will Nolan (AUB) 6-4, 6-3
  2. #30 William Mroz (ILLINI) def. Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-3, 7-6 (8-6)
  3. #95 Alex Frusina (AUB) def. Jeremy Zhang (ILLINI) 6-3, 6-4
  4. Tyler Bowers (ILLINI) def. Joey Phillips (AUB) 7-5, 6-3
  5. Zach Viiala (ILLINI) def. Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
  6. Nicholas Heng (AUB) vs. Mathis Debru (ILLINI) 4-6, 6-3, 1-3, unfinished

Doubles Results:

  1. #15 Will Nolan/Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. #52 Tyler Bowers/Zach Viiala (ILLINI) 6-1
  2. Alex Frusina/Joey Phillips (AUB) def. Kenta Miyoshi/Mathis Debru (ILLINI) 6-3
  3. Nicholas Heng/Thomas Kennedy (AUB) vs. Jeremy Zhang/William Mroz (ILLINI) 4-3, unfinished

 

Time of match: 2:39; Order of finish: Doubles: 1,2; Singles: 3,4,1,2,5