It was a weekend for upsets. For the first time since March 2002, the Illinois men’s tennis team lost two consecutive dual matches when they traveled to Texas.

The Illini found themselves down early in both matches, and after dropping the doubles point, it never recovered. The men lost to No. 10 Texas 4-3 Friday night. On Sunday, the team lost 4-1 to No. 60 Texas A&M.; Play was suspended Sunday when the outcome of the match was evident.

“We’re obviously disappointed in the weekend trip and the losses,” said Illinois head coach Brad Dancer. “This is definitely not up to our level of expectations.”

Both Texas head coach Michael Center and Texas A&M; head coach Tim Cass called their teams’ victories over the Illini among the most notable in the history of their programs. The last time the Aggies upset a No.2 team at home was in 2000, when they beat Pepperdine.

The Longhorns are now 8-1. Texas A&M;, which started the season 0-4, improves to 5-4, after pulling together five straight wins. Among those wins, the Aggies upset No. 35 Florida State, No. 28 Michigan and No. 36 Tulsa. Illinois drops to 11-3 overall.

Illinois senior Ryler DeHeart said one of the biggest obstacles the team had to overcome was the windy conditions.

“There are really no excuses,” DeHeart said. “We don’t want to be known as just an indoor team.”

Illinois senior Pramod Dabir said that it would be important for the team to get healthy and ready for the NCAA Tournament in May. These losses, Dabir said, will be a learning experience.

“We’re feeling determined,” Dabir said. “This is going to help us grow as a team and become better.”

Although the Illini dropped the match on Friday, DeHeart took over the top spot in the Illinois record books for most singles wins in a career when he topped Callum Beale 6-3, 6-1.

DeHeart, who battled for a starting spot his freshman year on what is arguably one of the greatest college tennis teams ever assembled, has spent a large part of his junior and senior seasons competing at the No. 1 position for the Illini, making his record-breaking performance even more spectacular. Michael Calkins, the previous record holder, competed mostly at the No. 4 or No. 5 position for Illinois.

“It feels great to own the record and to be a part of a long list of Illinois greats,” DeHeart said. “I’m very excited and hopefully I can add to that total and make it a pretty tough record to beat.”

DeHeart was unable to add to his record-breaking achievement Sunday, however, when he was upset by Jerry Makowski. Makowski is the nation’s 25th-ranked singles player.

DeHeart is the third-best singles player in the country. Senior Pramod Dabir also lost against the Aggies’ Matt Bain. Bain defeated Dabir 6-3, 6-2. Both of the Illini seniors had been victorious against the Longhorns. Dabir beat Hubert Chokiewicz in three sets 7-6, 3-6, 6-2.

“The guys that we counted on this year had rough days (on Sunday),” Dancer said. “When that happens, the other guys have to step up.”

Junior GD Jones scored Illinois’ lone victory against the Aggies, beating Conor Pollock 6-4, 6-1.

Despite the losses, Dancer said the team would be ready to rebound against USC on Thursday. The Illini face the Trojans at 1:30 p.m. at the Atkins Tennis Center. Illinois will not lower its expectations for success based on the weekend’s results, Dancer said.

“This is just the case where we are searching for exactly what our identity will be this year,” Dancer said.