Chambana Sun

Illinois Secures 12 Wins at Harvard Chowderfest

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Illinois secured 12 total wins during its time at Chowderfest hosted by Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., from Sept. 20-22. Tyler Bowers, Mathis Debru, Zach Viiala, and Jeremy Zhang represented the Fighting Illini at the three-day event, which saw all four Orange and Blue student-athletes pick multiple singles victories over the course of the weekend.

Viiala secured the first tournament triumph of his collegiate career, claiming the singles title.

Bowers was the lone Illini to win all three of his singles matches, while Debru, Viiala, and Zhang tallied two singles triumphs apiece during their time in Massachusetts.

"What a great weekend of tennis," said head coach Brad Dancer. "Harvard was first class in hosting this event. It has been great to see the progression of Tyler Bowers, and he is beginning to understand some of his capabilities. Zach is showing good court awareness but needs to be more assertive. Jeremy really struggled with his fundamentals, but he was gritty this weekend. I think he made a breakthrough in his final set. Mathis showed good calmness under duress, but he, like Zach, can assert his will more. Doubles play needs to be a point of emphasis for our entire team."

Day 1

Illinois began its weekend on the East Coast with four victories against opponents from Yale. The Illini and the Bulldogs split their matches in doubles play, with Debru and Zhang teaming up to defeat Yale's Krish Gupta and Dylan Tsoi, 6-3. Bowers and Viiala fell in the other doubles match between the sides, dropping a 6-3 decision to Vignesh Gogineni and Jason Shuler.

Viiala avenged his doubles loss with the first ranked win of his collegiate career, taking down No. 50 Vignesh Gogineni in a three-set thriller. After Viiala secured a 6-0 first-set victory and Gogineni bounced back with a 6-1 triumph in the second set, the match went to a pivotal third frame. Both players fought hard throughout the back-and-forth battle, but Viiala prevailed to win the set 14-12 and the match.

Bowers made quick work of Yale's Jim Ji for his first win of the season with an efficient 6-1, 6-3 victory.

Debru also picked up his first singles victory of the year with a 6-4, 7-6(5) triumph.

Zhang suffered a 6-3, 6-2 defeat to Yale's Eric Li.

Day 2

The Illini fell in both doubles matches on their second day of competition in Cambridge. Bowers and Viiala came up short against No. 86 Benjamin Privara and Masato Perera of Harvard while Melchior Delloye and Rohan Murali defeated Debru and Zhang.

Illinois picked up two singles wins to close out the day. Bowers recorded his second singles triumph of the weekend after fighting back from losing one set against Harvard's Melchior Delloye.

Zhang notched his first singles win of the season against Notre Dame's Jayanth Devaiah after coming from behind following an opening-frame loss.

Viiala dropped his singles match against No. 68-ranked Benjamin Privara while Debru suffered defeat against Crimson junior Masato Perera.

Day 3

The Orange and Blue closed out their time at Chowderfest winning both doubles matches and all four singles contests on Sunday.

The Illini switched up their doubles pairings on the final day; Debru paired with Viiala for a victory over Cornell’s Rushil Khosla and Petar Teodorovic while Bowers teamed with Zhang for another win over Boise State’s John Chin and James Van Herzeele.

In singles play:

- Zhang clinched another straight sets win.

- Debru prevailed over SMU’s Noah McDonald.

- Viiala needed three sets but won against Rodrigo Fernandes.

Bowers’ Sunday victory ensured an undefeated run at Chowderfest moving him to three wins without loss for this season’s singles action so far.

Up Next

Illinois will send select student-athletes to compete at Milwaukee Tennis Classic from Sept.27–29.