Illinois Earns ITA All-Academic Team Honors, Six Illini Named ITA Scholar-Athletes
July 14, 2026 | Men's Tennis
NEWS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Fighting Illini 2025-26 men's tennis squad was recognized by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for their academic success in 2025-26, the organization announced.
Illinois was named an ITA All-Academic Team award recipient, given to programs that exceed the benchmark of a 3.2 GPA. David Bakonyi, Sasha Colleu, Adam Jilly, Kenta Miyoshi, Zach Viiala, and Jeremy Zhang were all named ITA Scholar-Athletes for earning at least a 3.50 GPA across the 2025-26 academic year.
Bakonyi, Colleu, and Jilly are all first-time honorees; Viiala and Zhang were recognized for the third time; and Miyoshi was tabbed with ITA Scholar-Athlete status for the fourth straight season.
Bakonyi went 4-2 in singles and 12-6 on the doubles courts in his debut campaign with the Orange and Blue. He posted an 8-2 doubles record during Big Ten play, good for the second-most such wins on the team.
Colleu finished his freshman season with a 13-10 singles record and a 9-13 doubles mark, going 3-3 in singles and 3-2 in doubles in conference play. He was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the first time in his career on Jan. 21.
Jilly was a Big Ten All-Freshman Team and Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree in 2026 after tallying a 23-14 singles record. Ranking second on the team and fifth in the conference in singles wins, Jilly was recognized as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week three times and earned four total ranked singles triumphs.
Miyoshi marked his final collegiate campaign with unanimous All-Big Ten First Team and CSC Academic All-America Second Team distinction. An ITA Singles All-American for the second straight season, the Japan native collected a team-high 26 singles wins while tying for the team lead with 16 dual singles victories. He finished the year ranked No. 17 in singles and No. 61 in doubles.
Viiala led the Illini in doubles wins (14), dual doubles wins (14), and Big Ten doubles wins (9) in 2026, recording a 13-2 singles record and a 14-11 doubles mark. Starting the season on a 10-match singles winning streak, his nine Big Ten doubles wins ranked tied for third in the conference. He was also an Academic All-Big Ten and CSC Academic All-District honoree.
Zhang earned Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recognition following his junior season, during which he went 15-6 in singles and 4-5 in doubles. After he finished the fall with an 8-4 singles record, he clinched the Illini's NCAA Tournament second-round win over Vanderbilt with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 6 singles.
