CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois begins its fall slate this week on the West Coast, with Fighting Illini student-athletes set to compete at the Battle In The Bay Classic in California.
Senior Kenta Miyoshi and freshman Adam Jilly will represent the Orange and Blue at the four-day event, which will run from Sept. 11-14 at the California Tennis Club in San Francisco. Miyoshi will take part in the competition for the second straight season, while Jilly is set to make his collegiate debut.
The reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, Miyoshi won the singles consolation draw at Battle In The Bay last year, bouncing back from a first-round defeat by earning four consecutive ranked victories en route to the consolation title.Â
The Japan native enters his senior year in the Orange and Blue in 2025-26, coming off a historic junior campaign during which he was an ITA All-American, unanimous All-Big Ten First Team honoree, and CSC First Team All-American. A three-time Big Ten Player of the Week, Miyoshi heads into his final collegiate season with preseason rankings of No. 6 in singles and No. 2 in doubles.
Jilly makes the trip to San Francisco with an impressive junior resume, having won four ITF junior singles and nine doubles titles. A native of Hungary, Jilly represented his home country at the 2025 Davis Cup Qualifiers in Canada and was tabbed the No. 10-ranked newcomer in the country in the ITA preseason rankings.
Miyoshi is the top-seeded player in the singles main draw, and he will face Cal's Lenn Luemkemann in the opening round of play on Thursday at 12:45 p.m. CT. Miyoshi defeated Luemkemann twice in straight sets last season when the current Cal junior played at Oregon.
Jilly will take on Michigan State's No. 2-seeded Ozan Baris, who won the competition in 2023, on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT.
Jilly and Miyoshi will team up in the men's doubles main draw, squaring off with No. 2-seeded Stanford's Nicholas Godsick and Hudson Rivera on Thursday at 11 a.m. CT. Godsick/Rivera are ranked No. 16 in the preseason doubles listing.
The beginning of the Illini's fall slate marks the start of Brad Dancer's 21st season at the helm of the program after taking the head coaching job in June 2005.
