The match against Iowa was not supposed to be the Illinois men’s tennis team’s last home match.

Seniors Pramod Dabir and Ryler DeHeart are frustrated and disappointed. They knew their Senior Night celebration was the symbolic end of their collegiate careers on their home courts at the Atkins Tennis Center.

But the thought of moving on and leaving their supportive, inspiring fans had not really registered. After all, they were planning on hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Championships.

They expected to host the Regional Championships because they have their entire collegiate career and because Illinois has hosted the Regional Championships for the last seven years.

But the NCAA had other ideas.

On April 28, the NCAA ruled that Illinois would remain on the list of schools with “hostile and abusive” American Indian imagery. Chief Illiniwek is part of an 80-year-old tradition. The Chief performs at halftime of football games and men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball games.

The Illinois men’s tennis team will now head to Louisville for the first round of the NCAA Championships where they will take on Western Illinois, the Mid-Continent Conference’s automatic bid.

“The Board of Trustees really needs to get its act together and figure this out,” said Illinois junior GD Jones of Auckland, New Zealand. “Coming from a country where there is no college athletics, I think it is absurd that so much emphasis and debate is placed upon a mascot.”

Jones and the majority of the Illini said they do not have a problem with the Chief, but feel that the NCAA’s ruling is unfair.

“This is an issue that has not yet been resolved within the campus community,” Jones said. “It is a real shame that the athletic department and in particular, the athletic director Ron Guenther should be in the situation that he is.”

Many of the Illini, despite their personal opinions on the Chief, said that they realize that the NCAA ruling will greatly influence Illinois’ Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and the University.

“It looks like he’s going to go, so we might as well get it over with,” said Illinois sophomore Brandon Davis. “It’s a losing battle so we might as well get rid of him so that we can host.”

Although the tennis team realizes that many people connected with the University have a vested interest in the Chief, it knows that the debate may not end anytime soon.

“The loyalty surrounding the Chief has so much relevance,” Jones said. “It is a mascot that is very apparent at athletic events – but, it is a University-wide issue that I just wish that would get resolved.”

Board of Trustees chair Lawrence Eppley said on April 28 that the University will review its options because the ruling will impact all of Illinois athletics and the NCAA was very clear in its ruling against the Chief.

Illinois assistant coach Kent Kinnear said he felt the Illini’s hard work this season should have been rewarded.

“The guys have worked hard all year,” Kinnear said. “It would be a nice reward to host Regionals.”

Illinois is the highest-ranked team that will not be able to host the first two rounds of NCAA competition. Louisville has never hosted the NCAA Regional Championships. Instead, the Cardinals have opened competition at Illinois for the last two years.

“We got very lucky,” said Louisville head coach Rex Ecarma in a press release. “When I saw the TV screen say Louisville (first round), Louisville (second round) and Stanford . I thought that this was exactly what we have been hoping for.”

Although the Illini could not host the event, Illinois head coach Brad Dancer said that he and the rest of the NCAA Championship Committee worked hard to ensure the integrity of the draw.

Dancer does not know exactly how the decision over who would be the host for the event was made, since coaches are required to leave discussions when their regional is being discussed.

“We’re not excited about going to Louisville,” Dancer said. “But we’re going to do the best we can.”

Despite the current debate surrounding the Chief and his team, Dancer said Illinois is focused on its first-round match against Western Illinois on Friday at 10 a.m.

“We just have to deal with it,” Davis said. “We have to go out there, win all six of our matches and then (not hosting) won’t matter.”

Focused on winning one match at a time and rebounding from their most recent loss against Ohio State in the finals of the Big Ten Tournament Championships, the Illini are confident that the four-hour journey to Louisville will be well worth their time.

“We’ve definitely proven that we can win on the road and are capable of winning on the road,” Dabir said. “We’re going to kill them. We’re going to go out there and start some destruction.”

The Illini said they expect that quite a few fans will make the trip to Louisville to watch the team compete.

“The fans are the team,” Dancer said. “We had 1,000 people there when we beat Virginia. We need our crazy fans.”

Marc Spicijaric is the only freshman on the Illinois team. This will be his first experience at the Regional Championships. He believes that the team will perform well.

“This is what we have been training for,” Spicijaric said. “This has been our goal all year.”