Two former national champions will look to get back to their winning ways this afternoon at the Atkins Tennis Center.

The University of Southern California, the 2002 NCAA Champion, is in the midst of a three-match losing streak. Illinois, the 2003 NCAA champs, are coming off consecutive losses to Texas and Texas A&M.; It is the first time the Illini have dropped two straight matches since March 2002. Illinois fell to seventh in the national rankings.

“They’re very, very good, better than their rankings. I have a lot of respect for them and their program,” said Illinois head coach Brad Dancer. “But, our guys are going to be fired up and ready to go.”

Although the Illini are anxious to get back to their home courts following their losses in Texas, the team may not have the same home-court advantage it usually does. The match, which will be held at 1:30 p.m., is much earlier than the team’s usual weekday matches.

“We want to get a win under our belts again to gain some more momentum,” said Illinois freshman Marc Spicijaric.

Senior Pramod Dabir said the match time would not be a problem for the team. Instead, he said, he and his teammates learned that they now have to prove they earned the No.2 ranking they achieved earlier this season.

“The matches in Texas showed us that we need to work a lot harder, and we’ll need to step it up,” Dabir said. “It will be a good test for us, especially after a couple losses, to see how we rebound.”

None of the athletes on the Illini roster have ever had to bounce back immediately after two tough losses. The first loss Dabir and DeHeart suffered in their Illinois careers was in the semifinal of the NCAA Championships their sophomore year.

The three losses the team suffered last season were well spread out too. The Illini lost once at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Men’s Team Championships, during the regular season against Kentucky and in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Sophomore Ruben Gonzales said he is confident that the team will be ready to play, despite the possibility that they might have less fan support than usual. If anything, the sophomore said, at least the team will face more friendly conditions than the ones it encountered last year at USC. The match went down to the wire, but Illinois managed to pull out a victory.

“Last year there were a thousand people screaming against us,” Gonzales said. “And this time they will be screaming for us.”

The match against the Trojans is just one of many tests the Illini have, and will continue to face this month.

Illinois will also take on Florida, a perennial powerhouse, and Stanford – the most storied program in the history of college tennis – later this year. The Illini will compete in Gainesville, Fla. They will welcome Stanford to the Atkins Tennis Center on March 29. They also take on Ohio State on the road in early April.

“This is a very fascinating part of the schedule,” Dancer said. “It will be interesting to see where we are at the end of that.”