Urbana Tennis Royale, Tigers lose season opener to the Illineks

URBANA - Aryan Sachdev is off to a great start on the hardcourt this spring. The Urbana University senior picked up his fifth win of the season after defeating Urbana's Xander Ashley 6-1, 6-1, on the #1 singles court on Wednesday. In fact, the Illineks took all six singles matches to prevail 8-1 over the Tigers.

It wasn't all bad for Ashley, who later partnered with teammate Luke Pankau to win their match at #3 singles.

Meanwhile, on doubles court #2, Urbana's Santi Lleras and Karl Bonita pushed their match against Uni's Robert Gao and Ian Pan to a third-set tiebreak. Dropping the first set 7-5, Gao/Pan rallied back strong to take the second 6-1. Unable to match the firepower from the University High opponents, Lleras/Bonita gave a valiant effort as the sun dipped below the horizon, losing 10-4 under the lights.

Uni plays their next home match April 11 against Paris at Atkins Tennis Center starting at 4:30 p.m. The Tigers host Matton tomorrow at Blair Park at 2 p.m.

Photo Gallery

BOX SCORE ~

Singles:
No. 1 - Aryan Sachdev, U-High def. Xander Ashley, Urbana, 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 - Mason Miao, U-High def. Joe Solava, Urbana, 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 - Taehan Lee, U-High def. Ian Peters, Urbana, 6-0, 7-5
No. 4 - Swapnil Kumar, U-High def. Samuel Sherwood, Urbana, 6-0, 6-0
No. 5 - Kyle Fan, U-High def. Jack Perry, Urbana, 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 - Shreyas Singh, U-High def. Santi Lleras, Urbana, 6-3, 5-7, 10-2

Doubles:
No. 1 - Taehan Lee/Swapnil Kumar, U-High def. Joe Solava/Ian Peters, Urbana, 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 - Robert Gao/Ian Pan, U-High def. Santi Lleras/Karl Bonita, Urbana, 5-7, 6-1, 10-4
No. 3 - Xander Ashley/Luke Pankau, Urbana def. David Risinger/Collins Rosch, U-High, 7-5, 6-1

FINAL: University High 8 - Urbana 1

Ashley/Pankau pick up win doubles for Urbana at home tennis match

Urbana's Xander Ashley (left) and partner Luke Pankau congratulate their opponents after their doubles match on Wednesday against U-High's David Risinger and Collins Rosch. Despite securing their win at #3 doubles, the Tigers fell 8-1 to the visiting Illineks. Urbana is back in action at Blair Park for another home match, hosting Mattoon starting at 2 p.m. on Friday. Ashley and Pankau prevailed after a 7-5 first-set nailbiter, taking the second set six games to one.

Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks

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