For the members of the Illinois men’s tennis team, winning the regular season title is becoming a tradition.

It is a tradition, however, that the Illini plan on continuing.

“It feels good to win the title – particularly for the young guys,” said Illinois head coach Craig Tiley.

One of the most impressive aspects of this year’s accomplishment, besides the large number of freshmen who have contributed to the team’s success, is the adversity the men had to overcome.

Throughout the season, several athletes have suffered injuries that have kept the Illini from having a full roster for most of the season.

Illinois senior Chris Martin suffered from stress fractures early on. Junior Pramod Dabir sprained his ankle in January. Then the freshman class got hit with the injury bug when Ryan Rowe broke his hand.

This weekend the Illini were without the services of freshman Kevin Anderson, who is No. 38 in the nation.

But the Illini, as they have all season, overcame the adversity.

“Certainly there were a lot of obstacles; there are with every sport,” said Illinois associate head coach Brad Dancer, who won his first Big Ten title as an Illini this weekend. “But we had to adapt to it and different people stepped up when called upon.”

In one of the team’s most tightly contested matches all season, the Illini defeated Minnesota by the narrowest of margins, 4-3.

During that match, Illinois sophomore GD Jones stepped up defeating No. 25 Avery Ticer 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“It’s very different (to win the title this year) because there were more close matches in the Big Ten this year,” Jones said.

Jones, however, said he did not feel any additional pressure when he realized the team’s results would come down to whether he was victorious.

“I realized it and it was in the back of my mind,” Jones said. “But I was focusing on the match and knew that I couldn’t make a mistake.”

Although his teammates and coaches credit much of the team’s success against Minnesota to Jones, the sophomore is quick to point out his teammates’ accomplishments and their role in securing the team’s victory.

Jones credits the team’s ability to emerge from the match against the Golden Gophers victoriously to freshman Monte Tucker’s performance.

Tucker won his match at the No. 3 position over D.J. Geatz 6-3, 6-2.

“It was pretty exciting to finally get a win after about a five-match losing streak,” Tucker said. “I just let everything happen and kept competing for every ball.”

Jones also said the team picked up momentum after winning the doubles point.

Even after the Illini won on Saturday, the men would need another victory to become outright Big Ten champions.

Illinois senior Evan Zeder shouldered the responsibility of claiming the Big Ten title for the Illini.

Zeder topped Iowa’s Jonny Hoak 6-2, 6-4 to clinch the fourth – and deciding – point of the match. The Illini went on to sweep Iowa 7-0.

“Every (Big Ten) title is just as exciting as the other ones,” Zeder said. “We can’t take any of them for granted.”

Tiley said he was pleased with the senior’s performance and the way that he has elevated his level of play as the season progressed.

Zeder said he feels the team has been building momentum since its loss to Kentucky at the Atkins Tennis Center earlier this month.

“We’ve taken the pressure off of ourselves,” Zeder said. “We’re really just focusing on improving.”

Now the Illini are focusing their attention on another Big Ten title. Illinois will host the Big Ten Tournament at the Atkins Tennis Center beginning Thursday. The Illini, however, will not play until Friday. They will receive a bye into the second round of the tournament by virtue of their regular season Big Ten title.

“We’re not worrying about the pressure of being as successful as last year’s team or the pressure that we put on ourselves after starting the season so well,” Zeder said. “We’re focusing on winning the Big Ten title at home in front of our fans.”