Illinois bows out in Sweet 16
May 9—COLUMBUS, Ohio — The second rain delay of Friday's Super Regional men's tennis match between Illinois and Ohio State finally sent the final singles matches inside at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center after the first created a 75-minute break in action in Columbus. The warmup ultimately took longer than the final points necessary for Ohio State to finish off its 4-0 sweep of the Illini and advance to the Elite Eight. Kenta Miyoshi had a pair of game points to extend his No.
2 singles match against Ohio State's Jack Anthrop, but a misplayed point from the Illinois senior set up Anthrop for match point. The Buckeyes' senior delivered a massive shot past Miyoshi for a 6-4, 6-3 victory that gave his team the victory. "We felt incredibly confident at that spot," Illinois coach Brad Dancer said.
"Kudos to Anthrop for outplaying him. It was hard to see Kenta, who's meant so much over the last four years, to be the match that's clinched on, but sometimes you don't get the fairytale ending. A lot of credit to Ohio State in the way they played at singles.
" Anthrop was in position to deliver the match-winning singles victory after Ohio State (32-4) claimed the doubles point to take the early advantage. Unforced errors tripped up Illinois at No. 3 doubles to stake the Buckeyes to the early lead for that point, and an opportunity to close out the match at No.
2 doubles and put more pressure on the No. 1 pairing was also missed. Singles victories from Ohio State's Nikita Filin and Alexander Bernard at Nos.