CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois begins its 2025 dual schedule at ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 25-26. Playing host No. 14 Tennessee in the first round on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT, the Fighting Illini will then square off with either Auburn or No. 25 Michigan on Sunday at Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The ITA Kickoff Weekend features 56 programs looking to advance to the ITA National Indoor Championships in February. 14 schools, one from each of the 14 host sites during ITA Kickoff Weekend, will join Baylor and SMU – which automatically qualified by being hosts of the ITA Indoor Nationals – at the 16-team event from Feb. 14-18 in Texas.
Teams chose their ITA Kickoff Weekend destination in a draft format, with the selection order determined by the final ITA team rankings of the 2024 season. The Illini, who held the No. 32 spot in the draft, opted to take the final opening in the Knoxville region, which featured No. 7 Tennessee (the No. 1 seed and host), No. 24 Auburn (the No. 2 seed), and No. 25 Michigan (the No. 3 seed).
The Illini are looking to make the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the first time since the 2022-23 season.
Last Time Out
The Orange and Blue enter the weekend after hosting the Fighting Illini Invite from Jan. 17-19. The three-team event included student-athletes from Illinois, then-No. 8 Columbia, and Boise State and featured three days of singles and doubles action at Atkins Tennis Center.
The No. 30-ranked singles player in the country, redshirt junior William Mroz was named the Fighting Illini Invite's Most Outstanding Singles Player after going 3-0 in singles play, a stretch that included a ranked win over No. 111 Jett Middleton. Mroz and sophomore Jeremy Zhang teamed up to secure Most Outstanding Doubles Team status after going 2-0 in doubles action on Day 1 of the Fighting Illini Invite.
After achieving ITA All-America accolades in the fall, junior Kenta Miyoshi marked his first match of the spring with a ranked victory over Columbia's No. 42 Nicolas Kotzen in three sets. Miyoshi, the 29th singles All-American in program history, opens the dual season at No. 14 in the ITA singles rankings.
Miyoshi and senior Mathis Debru went 2-0 while playing together in doubles, prevailing over two different duos from No. 8 Columbia – Nicolas Kotzen/Michael Zheng and Max Westphal/Sachin Palta – on Day 1 of the Fighting Illini Invite.
Redshirt freshman Zach Viiala picked up the second ranked triumph of his college career with a straight-set decision against No. 111 Middleton.
Freshman Max Mroz, who joined the team in January, posted his first collegiate singles wins last week, going 2-1 in singles play at the Fighting Illini Invite.
About No. 14 Tennessee, No. 25 Michigan, Auburn
No. 14 Tennessee enters ITA Kickoff Weekend with a 3-1 record, with all three victories coming against in-state opponents. The Volunteers started the spring with three consecutive wins, including back-to-back 7-0 sweeps against Tennessee Tech and Belmont. After defeating Middle Tennessee away from home, Tennessee fell on the road to No. 4 Wake Forest in its most recent match on Jan. 19.
No. 18 Shunsuke Mitsui is 3-0 in singles play this season for the Vols, including a 2-0 mark while playing at No. 1. No. 34 Alex Kotzen is 1-0, with the lone victory coming in straight-set fashion over MTSU's No. 98 Karim Al-Amin while competing at No. 1 singles. The Volunteers boast three singles players and two doubles tandems in the ITA individual rankings.
No. 25 Michigan, which Illinois is set to play twice later in the regular season, won its lone dual match of the season thus far with a sweep of Ball State on Jan. 11. The Wolverine roster includes 2024 NCAA doubles runners-up Gavin Young and Benjamin Kittay, who came in at No. 5 in the latest ITA doubles rankings. Young is the highest-ranked Michigan player in the singles rankings, slotting in at No. 59.
Auburn makes the trip to Tennessee with an unblemished 2-0 record after earning victories against Mercer and North Alabama. The Tigers' squad features the No. 15-ranked doubles duo of Billy Blaydes and William Nolan, while No. 95 Alexander Frusina is the team's highest-ranked singles player.
Series History
Tennessee leads the all-time series between the sides, 10-4. The Fighting Illini and the Volunteers will face off for the first time since Feb. 19, 2023, when No. 9 Tennessee posted a 4-1 victory over the Orange and Blue at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago. Illinois will take on Tennessee on the road for the first time since Feb. 5, 2012, when the Illini left Knoxville with a 4-1 win.
Illinois trails in the series against Michigan, 46-70-3, while the Illini are 2-1 against Auburn all-time.
Players in the ITA Rankings
Team
- No. 14: Tennessee
- No. 25: Michigan
Singles
- No. 14: Kenta Miyoshi (Illinois)
- No. 18: Shunsuke Mitsui (Tennessee)
- No. 30: William Mroz (Illinois)
- No. 34: Alex Kotzen (Tennessee)
- No. 56: Alejandro Moreno (Tennessee)
- No. 59: Gavin Young (Michigan)
- No. 95: Alexander Frusina (Auburn)
- No. 113: Patorn Hanchaikul (Michigan)
Doubles
- No. 5: Gavin Young / Benjamin Kittay (Michigan)
- No. 15: Billy Blaydes / William Nolan (Auburn)
- No. 21: Alejandro Moreno / Alex Kotzen (Tennessee)
- No. 52: Tyler Bowers / Zach Viiala (Illinois)
- No. 59: Alan Jesudason / Shunsuke Mitsui (Tennessee)
- No. 119: Will Cooksey / Alex Cairo (Michigan)
Big Ten at ITA Kickoff Weekend
Eight Big Ten programs will take part in ITA Kickoff Weekend, with No. 3 Ohio State serving as the lone team that will host a regional.
- Michigan State (No. 2 seed at TCU)
- Ohio State (No. 1 seed and host)
- Nebraska (No. 3 seed at Kentucky)
- Michigan (No. 3 seed at Tennessee)
- Illinois (No. 4 seed at Tennessee)
- USC (No. 4 seed at Arizona)
- Oregon (No. 3 seed at Oklahoma)
- UCLA (No. 3 seed at Harvard)
