Chambana Sun

Illinois men's tennis team faced a setback as they lost to Nebraska 4-2 in the Big Ten Tournament on Friday afternoon. The tournament, hosted by Northwestern in Evanston, saw Illinois as the No. 4 seed and Nebraska as the No. 5 seed.

Following this match, Illinois holds an overall record of 16-9, while Nebraska advances with a record of 17-9.

Head coach Brad Dancer acknowledged Nebraska's performance, stating, "Huge credit to Nebraska. I thought they played a great match. We put pressure on them at every position and they responded. We fought hard, but we didn't manage certain moments as well as we could and Nebraska just kept coming. Again, big credit to them."

Illinois secured the doubles point with victories from Lucas Horve and Oliver Okonkwo against Nic Wiedenhorn and Anton Shepp (6-4), followed by Mathis Debru and Kenta Miyoshi defeating Calvin Mueller and Lars Johann (7-5).

In singles play, after Miyoshi's loss, Okonkwo added another point for Illinois with a win over Johann (6-4, 6-4). However, Tyler Bowers, Hunter Heck, and Alex Petrov were unable to secure victories in their three-set matches. Debru's match remained unfinished during the third set tiebreaker.

Looking ahead, Illinois will await their placement in the NCAA Tournament with the Selection Show scheduled for Monday at 5 p.m. CT on ncaa.com.