CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois men's tennis will play Ohio State in their home opener on Saturday at noon followed by a match against Chicago State scheduled for 5 pm.

Illinois' 12 pm match up with Ohio State is a rematch of last year's Big Ten Tournament Championship match where the Illini defeated the Buckeye 4-3. In what became his routine last year, Zeke Clark was the last Illini playing. He defeated Kyle Seelig (OSU) 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-6 (4) to clinch the title for the Orange and Blue. Illinois is58-43-1 all-time versus Ohio State.

Illinois' history against Chicago State is limited. The team have played one time before, Illinois won 4-0 at Atkins in 2020.

Last Time Out

Illinois kicked off the Spring 2022 schedule in Atlanta last weekend at the MLK Invitational. The team competed against UNC, Georgia and Columbia during the event but no team scores were recorded.  Lucas Horve went undefeated on the weekend.

In The Rankings

The Illini ranked No. 23 in the ITA coaches poll release Wednesday Jan. 19, the same ranking they were given in the preseason.  Three Illini were included the singles rankings on Dec. 8, graduate transfer Olivier Stuart  at No. 97, Alex brown at No. 113 and Kweisi Kenyatte at No. 116.

B1G Champs

Illinois was the first Big Ten West Division Title winner last season. Following the regular season championship Illinois was a no. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament. The defeated Indiana 4-0 before matching up against Michigan in the semifinals. Illinois battled back to defeated the Wolverines 4-2. In the finals they were up against OSU, who they lost two in the regular season. The match lasted over three hours and the Illinois came out with the 4-3 win.

Key Pieces Return

Alex Brown, Hunter Heck, Kweisi Kenyatte, and Siphosothando Montsi all return to the team in 2022. Brown was an All-American in 2020 and played doubles no. 1 and singles no. 2 for Illinois last season. Monsti, who reached the Sweet 16 last season in the singles tournament and was named and All-American after posting a 16-3 singles record during the season is back. Kenyatte missed the second half of the season with an injury but had a couple key wins for Illinois including in their season opening upset of No. 1 USC. After a successful freshman season where his comeback win 0-6, 6-3, 7-5 against JJ Tracy who had been undefeated until then gave Illinois a point in the Big Ten Championship.

New Faces

Last season fifth year seniors  Zeke Clark, Aleks Kovacevic, and Noe Khilf played big roles in the teams success. To fill the holes left but the graduated senior Brad Dancer and assistant coach March Asse brought in four new Illini. The first was Mercer transfer Olivier Stuart who played four years at Mercer before sitting out last season and transferred to the Illini. Stuart is joined by freshmen Gabrielius Guzauskas, Will Mroz and Karlis Ozolins.

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