Huskies Close Big Ten Opening Weekend with Loss at No. 11 Illinois

Sunday, March 8

Champaign, Ill.

10:00 AM

University of Washington

Illinois

Huskies Close Big Ten Opening Weekend with Loss at No. 11 Illinois

March 08, 2026 | Men's Tennis

Urbana, Ill.- The University of Washington Men's Tennis Team closed its opening Big Ten slate this morning with a 4-0 loss against the No. 11 University of Illinois Fighting Illini. Washington is now (6-8) on the season and (0-2) in Big Ten play, as the Huskies return to Montlake next weekend with matches Friday, March 13th, against Purdue and Sunday, March 15th, against Indiana.

After dropping the doubles point, the Huskies opened singles play, taking early leads in all matches. With Soham Purohit and Brett Pearson leading the charge, as both closed their first sets with 7-6 tiebreak losses. Rounding out the first set Rohan Belday, Stephane Kamendje, and Hyeonseok Seo would close the set with back-and-forth losses.

The Illini would go to close out the match in the second set with the Huskies dropping three straight, leaving Soham, Brett, and Hyeonseok unfinished in their matches.

Up Next
Washington returns to play next weekend back in Seattle. The Huskies will host Purdue on Friday, March 13th at 5 pm and Indiana on Sunday, March 15th at noon from the Nordstrom Tennis Center.

Washington Men's Tennis
March 8, 2026
Urbana, Ill. | Atkins Tennis Center | 10:00 AM PT

#11 Illinois - 4
Washington - 0

Doubles
1. #58 Soham Purohit/Brett Pearson (UW) vs. Debru/Bowers (UI) - 5-4 (DNF)
2. Mroz/Jones (UI) def. Daniel Bien/Nikola Plavsic (UW) - 6-2
3. Viiala/Colleu (UI) def. Rohan Belday/Stephane Kamendje (UW) - 6-3
Order of Finish: (2, 3)

Singles
1. Soham Purohit (UW) vs.#26 Gabriel Debru (UI) - 7-6(3), 3-2 (DNF)
2.#70 Will Mroz (UI) def. Stephane Kamendje (UW) - 6-4, 6-4
3. Sasha Colleu (UI) def. Rohan Belday (UW) - 7-5, 6-1
4. Brett Pearson (UW) vs. Hayden Jones (UI) - 7-6 (4), 4-3 (DNF)
5. Hyeonseok Seo (UW) vs. Zach Viiala (UI) - 6-4, 4-3 (DNF)
6. Jeremy Zhang (UI) def. Daniel Bien (UW) - 6-2, 6-3
Order of Finish: (6, 2, 3)

Match Notes (Prior to Match):
Washington 6-7
#11 Illinois 11-3
All-time record: UI leads 6-1

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