The Illinois men’s tennis team began the Big Ten season just like it finished the regular Big Ten season last year – undefeated.

Although Illinois swept Indiana on Saturday before blanking Penn State on Sunday, the Illini looked much improved on Sunday.

“As a team, we needed a little bit more energy out there,” said Illinois senior Pramod Dabir, who clinched the victory for his team on Saturday. “It was nice to come away with a 7-0 victory; but, when we start playing better teams, we need to step it up out there.”

Illinois sophomore Kevin Anderson was able to overcome pain in his serving arm, to defeat Indiana’s Dmytro Ishtuganov 6-4, 2-6, 10-8.

Although Anderson said he was unsure of exactly what was wrong with his arm, he was glad the pain subsided before the super-tiebreaker.

“The last few weeks I have been working on my backhand,” Anderson said. “And that was the only shot I could hit.”

Despite their slow start to the weekend, the Illini rebounded on Sunday with a stronger performance against the Nittany Lions.

Illinois jumped out to an early lead when sophomore Brandon Davis and Dabir clinched a victory over Penn State’s Ryan Berger and Bradley Hunter.

The duo grabbed the momentum from the Penn State tandem when they broke the Nittany Lions’ serve to go up 5-3.

“It took some of the wind out of their sails,” Davis said. “Then we steamrolled from there.”

From then, the Illini did not let the Penn State duo score.

“We kept the pressure on and never let them back in,” Davis said.

As soon as the Illini clinched the doubles point, play was suspended with sophomore Ruben Gonzales and senior Ryler DeHeart leading Mark Barry and Michael James 6-5.

“It feels a little bit sour,” DeHeart said after not being able to finish his doubles match. “You like to get rid of that sour taste with a sweet victory in singles.”

DeHeart capitalized on his singles performance and “took care of business” when he topped Berger 6-2, 6-3.

“We really laid it out on the line today,” DeHeart said. “And, we’re going to continue to do that.”

Illinois head coach Brad Dancer said he was pleased with the men’s results both days and is happy to begin his first Big Ten season as a head coach undefeated. He would still like to see the Illini improve, though.

“We’re going to have to get better,” Dancer said.

“Because the other teams are going to get better.”

Illinois may have taken the first Big Ten match too lightly, DeHeart said. However, he said he believes the team will continue to improve throughout the Big Ten season.

“We really need to buckle down,” DeHeart said. “We have something to prove every time that we go out on the court.”