URBANA, Ill. - The No. 12 Fighting Illini men's tennis team battled back to erase multiple deficits Friday night, but Ole Miss prevailed 4-3. A 7-4 win in a third-set tiebreak in the final match of the night sent the Rebels to the second round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Illini will face Texas Tech at 1 p.m. Sunday, and Ole Miss will take on No. 20 Michigan, which defeated the Red Raiders 4-3 in the afternoon match Friday.
"It's really disappointing to lose on your home courts and start the season off with the loss," head coach Brad Dancer said. "It's really nothing more than that, it's a loss. We probably weren't going to go through the season undefeated. Having said that, I give a ton of credit to Ole Miss, this is a really tough place to play. I thought we had some chances to capitalize in some matches, but we didn't get it done."
After the Rebels took the doubles point, junior Alex Brown picked up a 6-4, 6-3 win on court 2 to even the match. Senior Aleks Kovacevic erased an early deficit on court 1 to put Illinois ahead. Wins on courts 3 and 5 left sophomore Siphosothando Montsi and redshirt freshman Lucas Horve the last hope for the home squad. Montsi pulled out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory on court 4, but Horve fell in the deciding tiebreak.
"[I] feel like a big part of playing tennis is putting yourself in a winning position, and we put ourselves in a winning position on a number of courts," Dancer said. "That's the big positive, you got to put yourself in a winning position, and when you put yourself in a winning position enough times, you figure out a way to come through. Disappointing to start the season that way, but we play again at 1:00 tomorrow so we have zero time to hang our heads."
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