In the past, the Illinois men’s tennis team has dominated the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional tournament.

But this is a new year and a new team.

Michael Calkins, the Illini’s regional singles finalist, graduated in May.

Phil Stolt, the 2002 regional singles champion, graduated too.

Bruce Berque, Illinois’ former associate head coach, and Mike Kosta, a former Illini athlete, are now coaching at Michigan.

These Illini, though, are still determined to prove they are among the region’s, and Big Ten’s, elite. Almost all of the Big Ten teams will be in attendance this weekend.

“We now get a feel for what our regional competition is like,” said Illinois head coach Craig Tiley. “We’ve done well at the national level. Let’s see how we can do at the Big Ten level.”

The regional tournament will pit the Illini against a strong Ohio State team, including Scott Green and Ross Wilson. Green and Wilson won the doubles tournament at the All-American Championships, one of the three national collegiate tournaments, earlier this month. Green and Wilson will not be competing together, Tiley said.

Although Ohio State plans to split up their best doubles tandem, Illinois does not.

Ryler DeHeart and GD Jones, who advanced to the semifinals of the All-American Championships, will compete together again – with one goal.

“We want to have our best team in there and it will be fun to see how they can do again,” Tiley said. “But they want to win regionals.”

They also want to earn bids to the ITA National Indoor Championships in singles. They have already qualified in doubles.

The singles finalists in each regional tournament automatically qualify for the National Indoor tournament.

“I don’t want to go to Indoors and just play doubles,” DeHeart said. “Not having to worry about the doubles, as far as qualifying (for nationals), is nice.”

Jones agrees.

“I want to qualify for singles, that’s the bottom line,” he said.

The men will also try to maintain their stronghold on the Midwest.

In 2002 and 2003, three Illini advanced to the semifinals of the tournament.

“It’s a good opportunity to set the tone for the whole year,” Jones said. “This is the chance before we go into the dual-match season to demonstrate that we’re the team out here and that we’re going to do it again.”

For freshmen Brandon Davis, Andrew Eklov and Monte Tucker, this will not only be their first regional tournament, but also their first collegiate tournament at Michigan.

“I’ve never played a Big Ten match; I’ve never seen one either,” Tucker, a native of Birmingham, Ala., said. “I’m from the SEC.”

Instead of focusing on the new surroundings though, Tucker is planning on focusing on the familiar.

“I try to just go out and do what Coach Tiley and Brad tell me to do,” he said. “That seems to put it all in perspective.”

The coaches expect the freshmen to deliver this weekend, Tiley said.

Davis and Eklov begin competition today during the qualifying tournament. Eight other Illini will join them Sunday during the tournament’s main draw.

“We recruited them on the assumption that they were going to play and do well,” Tiley said. “It’s their responsibility now to step up and get the job done.”