The Illinois men’s tennis team faced adversity this weekend – and triumphed.

On Friday morning, associate head coach Brad Dancer and two athletes were injured in a two-car accident en route to the Napa Valley Invitational in California. A pickup truck driving in the opposite direction drifted into their lane and hit the minivan Dancer was driving.

“(The team) responded as well as they possibly could,” said Illinois head coach Craig Tiley. “It was traumatic emotionally for them and physically for some of them.”

Illinois junior Pramod Dabir and freshman Andrew Eklov were traveling with Dancer when the accident occurred. The athletes were treated and released at a local hospital. Dancer was airlifted to Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa, where he had his spleen removed.

He is still at the hospital recovering from the surgery and healing from bruised lungs.

Tiley credits the families the team stayed with while at the tournament for helping the men remain calm. The host families “made a significant difference,” Tiley said.

Sophomore GD Jones and senior Chris Martin were preparing to leave for the Napa Valley Invitational site when Tiley telephoned them about the accident.

“It put things in perspective,” said Martin, who was anxious about Dancer’s condition because the team did not know how badly injured Dancer was when the accident first occurred. “Brad was fighting for his life and we were playing tennis – it didn’t seem right.”

Several Illini opted not to compete on Friday, the day of the accident. Tiley said he expected that reaction from his players.

However, the men who did compete did well.

Junior Ryler DeHeart won his first match en route to a perfect singles tournament. DeHeart finished the tournament 3-0.

DeHeart started the weekend slow, but gained momentum as the weekend progressed, he said.

And, while going undefeated was important, DeHeart feels he “has to keep it going, three matches isn’t that many.”

Freshmen Monte Tucker and Brandon Davis went undefeated through the weekend as well.

Tucker began his collegiate career Friday, defeating California’s Dean Wallace 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3. Tucker topped Texas A & M’s Marvin Rolle 6-4, 6-4 Saturday.

Davis beat California’s Valclav Burger 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 Saturday and Texas A & M’s Zack Malmgren 6-3, 7-6 (6) Sunday.

Tiley said he was encouraged by the men’s results.

“For their first tournament of their freshman year, they had a good start,” Tiley said.

Martin said he was impressed by the younger athletes’ performance too.

“It’s tough to tell where they’re at,” Martin said. “But they had good attitudes and fought hard.”

Martin spent Friday coaching, where he was able to observe his teammates.

“When you coach, you get to be with them when they’re playing,” Martin said. “And you become a little closer.”

Martin returned to the courts on Saturday, where he won his singles and doubles matches. He suffered his first loss Sunday against California’s Conor Niland. Niland won 6-4, 6-4.

In total, the Illini won 11 of their 20 matches against traditional tennis powers. Georgia finished last season ranked sixth. Texas A & M was 19th. California was 30th.

Dabir and Eklov, who were injured Friday morning, competed in the round robin tournament Sunday. Neither won.

Rolle defeated Dabir 6-4, 7-5, while Wallace beat Eklov 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Dabir said he learned a lot from the experience though and plans to make improvements before the All-American tournament in October.

“I think it was productive for the first tournament of the year,” Martin said.