Another day brings another big match for Illinois as the Illini will try to make it 2 Top 10 wins in as many days after making the 100 mile trek from Austin to College Station. What’s still unknown is whether we’ll see the Illini’s #1 Farris Gosea but I’d have to say that I would be more than surprised if he was available for action today.
For Texas A&M to take this one they’ll need to play much better than they did on Friday night against a Vanderbilt team that was down its #1 while for Illinois to take it they’ll need to play with the same urgency and tenacity that they played with yesterday against Texas. The biggest thing going in Illinois’s favor is that they’ll be taking the court with the confidence of knowing they’ve already beat one top 10 team on the road so why not a second.
The guys on these teams are fairly familiar with each other with Illinois having made a trip to College Station each of the last 3 years to play in the Texas A&M Conference Challenge which takes place outdoors in October. The familiarity with the courts and the potentially windy playing conditions will be a plus for Illinois as opposed to teams that only come down once every so often for a dual match. This will also be the 3rd dual match these 2 have played in the last 13 months with Illinois winning at home last year and Texas A&M winning in Houston in a consolation match at the National Indoors.
Illinois in 9-7 in doubles while Texas A&M is 8-2 however the Aggies have dropped the point 2 of the last 3 times out.
Let’s take a look at the singles match-ups and see who is going to come out on top.
FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of March 14th. For more details about UTR check out their website.
#2 singles – #32 Tim Kopinski is 12-2 on the year with a 4-2 record against ranked opponents but he’s coming off a 6-2, 6-4 loss to #52 Lloyd Glasspool which snapped his 6-match winning streak while #71 Shane Vinsant is 2-2 (1-1 against ranked), with 5 additional matches not finishing, including his last match which went unfinished after Vinsant split sets with Danny Valent. Vinsant beat Kopinski 6-4, 6-1 back in October. Prediction: DNF with Kopinski leading.
#3 singles – #76 Aron Hiltzik is 9-3 on the year and 2-0 against ranked opponents and is coming off a 6-4, 6-1 win over #60 Adrien Berkowicz which ran his winning streak to 7. #48 Harrison Adams on the other hand has continued to struggle this year with an 0-6 record and he was down 7-5, 4-5 against Kris Yee on Friday night when the match was halted due to the clinch. Adams went 14-8 last year including 9-7 at #1 singles but for whatever reason he hasn’t been able to find the groove this year. Prediction: Hiltzik in 2
#4 singles – #49 Aleks Vukic is 10-1 in dual match play and he is currently riding an 8-match winning which includes a 6-2, 6-2 thumping over George Goldhoff yesterday while Rinderknech is 8-1 and has won 8 straight including a 7-5, 6-3 win on Friday over Suresh Eswaran. Prediction: Vukic in 3
#5 singles – Toshiki Matsuya is 6-1 on the year but he lost his last completed match and trailed 3-1 in the 3rd yesterday against Nick Naumann while Jordi Arconada ran his record to 1-1 by picking up his first collegiate victory on Friday with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Baker Newman. Arconada joined the team in January but has only seen action in 2 matches thus far. Prediction: Matsuya in 2.
#6 singles – Blake Bazarnik got the call yesterday for just the 6th time this year and he was able to run his record to 3-2 with a match clinching win over John Mee 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 while #89 AJ Catanzariti is 6-3 including a 6-1, 6-4 win on Friday night over Jeff Offerdahl – Catanzariti has won 5 of his last 6. Prediction: Catanzariti in 2.
I think the confidence from the Texas win will carry over and Illinois is going to get it done again for a 2nd day in a row with the Illini taking the doubles point and picking up wins at 3, 4, and 5. Prediction: Illinois 4-2
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