The 33rd-ranked Illini are anxious to prove themselves when No. 30 Wake Forest and No. 18 Tennessee come to Champaign this weekend.

The Illini are scheduled to play Wake Forest today at 3 p.m. and Tennessee on Sunday at noon.

“I love playing good teams,” said assistant coach Joanne Russell. “I love it when somebody comes here and wants to play us. I’m sure a bunch of teams in the country think that we are not as good as we were last year, but if they come in with that attitude they are going to be in for a rude awakening.”

This season, the Illini have five newcomers and graduated two ranked players in Jennifer McGaffigan and Tiffany Eklov.

Although teams across the country might think this year is a rebuilding year for the Illini, they will not hear of it.

“We’re not thinking that way,” said junior Brianna Knue. “Let them think what they want to think about us. If we can beat them both, it will give our team a lot of respect across the country.”

The freshmen on the team are just as excited for this weekend.

“I think it is important for us,” said freshman Macall Harkins. “Both teams are tough and it will show them how tough we are and it will show our teammates how tough we are and how much we want to be out there.”

The Illini believe one of the keys to the weekend will be grabbing the doubles point. The Illini have won 14 of their last 15 matches when they have won the doubles point.

“The doubles point is huge for us,” Knue said. “When you win the doubles point you only have to come back and win three singles matches, even though I think we can come back and win four if we needed to. It is also important because it gives us momentum going into singles.”

The Demon Deacons, who are 2-0 on the season after shutting out Charlotte and UNC-Greensboro, feature No. 16 Karin Coetzee and No.77 Ashlee Davis. Together the duo is No. 33 in the doubles rankings.

Wake Forest is looking to avenge last year’s 4-3 defeat which came in Winston-Salem, N.C. It all came down to the final match point in last year’s contest, when Knue won in three sets for the victory.

“I was reading their Web site and one of the girls said ‘We are going to avenge the loss from Illinois,'” Russell said. “We inked it out at Wake last year, they don’t think we are as good as we were last year, so it’ll be exciting on Friday to show them just how good we are.”

Sabita Maharaj, who is ranked No. 51 in the country, and Victoria Jones, who is ranked No. 107, headline the Volunteer singles lineup. Maharaj and Ashley Robards come in as the 51st-ranked doubles team. The Volunteers are 0-2 after losing 5-2 at No. 15 North Carolina, and 4-3 at No. 8 Duke. In ten meetings the Illini have yet to defeat Tennessee.

In last year’s meeting, the Illini fell to Tennessee 5-2 on Feb. 1.

“The seniors are telling the underclassmen, ‘this match is for revenge,'” Russell said. “We are going to take it to them from the get go.”