Zeke Clark Assistant Coach | University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Website
Zeke Clark Assistant Coach | University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Website
The Fighting Illini men's tennis team is set to compete in the ITA Midwest Regional, hosted at the MSU Tennis Center in East Lansing, Michigan. Seven student-athletes from Illinois will participate in both singles and doubles matches over the five-day tournament.
Singles qualifying matches will commence on Thursday, while the doubles main draws are scheduled to start on Friday. The tournament concludes on Monday.
Mathis Debru is slated to begin his journey in the singles qualifying draw. Meanwhile, Tyler Bowers, Gabrielius Guzauskas, Kenta Miyoshi, William Mroz, Zach Viiala, and Jeremy Zhang will compete in the singles main draw. Three pairs of Illini athletes—Debru/Miyoshi, Guzauskas/Mroz, and Bowers/Viiala—will enter the doubles main draw starting Friday.
This event marks a return for Guzauskas, Miyoshi, and Mroz since their participation in singles at the ITA All-American Championships last month. During that event, Mroz secured four victories including his first ranked win of the season. Both Guzauskas and Miyoshi recorded one win each during their runs.
Bowers, Debru, Viiala, and Zhang will also make a return following their performances at Harvard's Chowderfest held from September 20-22. At that competition, Viiala achieved his first collegiate singles title while Bowers collected three wins. Debru and Zhang each added two victories to their records.
In doubles play this season for Illinois: Debru and Miyoshi reunite after competing together extensively during spring 2024; Guzauskas and Mroz pair up again since last year; while Bowers and Viiala continue as partners following Chowderfest.
The ITA Midwest Regional serves as one of four fall tournaments qualifying participants for November’s NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships in Waco Texas where automatic bids await those reaching specific benchmarks—two finalists from singles' main draws or champions among doubles teams advance automatically by month-end when NCAAs unfold between November 19-24th
Details regarding draws or daily schedules for ITA Midwest Regionals will be accessible once released through designated channels
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