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Junior Stephen Hoh teamed up with newcomer Tim Kopinski to win three doubles matches.
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Oct. 28, 2011
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Four members of the Illini men's tennis team opened play at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Friday, as junior Stephen Hoh and freshman Tim Kopinski teamed up to go 3-1 in doubles play and took third place in Flight A at the University of Iowa.
"It was great to get so many doubles matches in today," Illini associate head coach Marcos Asse said. "Strategically, we played better, played a little more crazy and made some moves. We came back to the fundamentals a little bit. I think it's something to continue to work on and continue to get guys more comfortable in doubles scenarios, so they can swing more freely and loosely. We don't have some of the concerns in singles that we have in doubles. We have great servers and great returners on this team, but doubles seem to plague us a little bit. But I think our guys learned a lot from today."
Kopinski and Hoh got off to a strong start with a convincing 8-2 victory over Dimitrije Tasic and Will Kendall of Indiana and an 8-5 quarterfinal win over Minnesota duo Mathieu Fromont and Juan Pablo Ramirez. The Illini tandem struggled in the semifinals, however, falling to eventual Flight A champions Barret Franks and Alex Buzzi (Michigan), 8-2. The duo recovered in the following match, taking a thrilling 9-7 win over Fredrik Ask and Petr Satral of Wisconsin to place third in the tournament.
Meanwhile, freshman Ross Guignon and Bruno Abdelnour went 1-3 in doubles play, picking up an 8-5 win over Purdue tandem Pawel Poziomski and Billy Heuer.
The Orange and Blue will return to action tomorrow morning for the first and second rounds of singles play, beginning at 8 a.m. CT.
Results and recap will be available at fightingillini.com.
Big Ten Indoor Championships - Illini Results
Tim Kopinski/Stephen Hoh (Illinois) def. Dimitrije Tasic/Will Kendall (Indiana), 8-2
Tim Kopinski/Stephen Hoh (Illinois) def. Mathieu Fromont/Juan Pablo Ramirez (Minnesota), 8-5
Barrett Franks/Alex Buzzi (Michigan) def. Tim Kopinski/Stephen Hoh (Illinois), 8-2
Tim Kopinski/Stephen Hoh (Illinois) def. Fredrik Ask/Petr Satral (Wisconsin), 9-7
Bryan Welnetz/Russel Bader (Penn State) def. Ross Guignon/Bruno Abdelnour (Illinois), 9-8
Ross Guignon/Bruno Abdelnour (Illinois) def. Pawel Poziomski/Billy Heuer (Purdue), 8-5
Michael Sicora/Eric Freuh (Minnesota) def. Ross Guignon/Bruno Abdelnour (Illinois), 8-2
Bryan Welnetz/Russel Bader (Penn State) def. Ross Guignon/Bruno Abdelnour (Illinois), 9-8
