The Illinois men’s tennis team lost their Big Ten dominance in a flash, just as they seemed in control – and, of all things, to one of their own.

The Illini lost 5-2 to Michigan Friday, ending a run of 10 years of undefeated play against every Big Ten school but Ohio State. It was not just a monumental loss for the Illini, but the biggest win of Michigan coach Bruce Berque’s young career, which blossomed when he was an Illinois assistant from 1999-2004.

“It was a very disappointing loss,” head coach Brad Dancer said.

Illinois’ streak looked safe early, as they jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and appeared headed for another easy conference win. After the two teams split the second and third doubles matches, Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe clinched the doubles point with a fantastic tiebreaker performance in a 9-8(1) win over the nation’s No. 3 team of Brian Hung and Matko Maravic. Anderson carried the momentum into his singles match, where he raced to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Hung and staked Illinois to a huge lead.

But Michigan would not surrender another match, using their superior depth to overwhelm Illinois at the lower singles spots. Playing against an Illinois lineup that was missing their third singles player, and in front of a record-setting crowd of almost 500, the Wolverines took the bottom four singles spots in straight sets for a stunning win. Ryan Rowe was the only other Illini player to even take a set, but he faltered and fell in a third-set match tiebreaker.

“After winning the doubles point, I thought we put ourselves in a great position to win,” Dancer said. “We just didn’t get the job done today when we had the chance.”

The No. 8 Illini were not favored to win the conference this year, but few thought they would face a real challenge from any team but the No. 3 Buckeyes. Before Friday, the Illini had lost a total of three Big Ten matches since 1997, all to Ohio State. Now, next week’s showdown in Columbus pales in comparison to the Buckeyes’ season-ending match in Ann Arbor. There, Berque and the Wolverines could claim the first conference title by any team other than the Illini or Buckeyes since 1996.

Because Michigan lost to Penn State in their conference opener, the Illini could still claim a share or all of the Big Ten title if they beat Ohio State and go undefeated in the rest of the Big Ten season.

They took the first step Sunday, rebounding to knock off the Nittany Lions 5-2. The Illini set the tone with dominating 8-2 and 8-3 wins at the second and third doubles spots, then swept the point when Anderson and Rowe slipped by Ryan Berger and Michael James 8-6 at the top spot.

Illinois then put the match away quickly in singles, taking the first four matches to go up 5-0.

Jones recovered from a rough performance on Friday to whip Adam Slagter 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 singles, then Marc Spicijaric followed suit.

Rowe clinched the match for the Illini with a three-set win before Anderson rallied from a set down to take the best match of the day 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 over James at first singles.

Penn State took the bottom two singles matches from the Illini, but the match was already clinched.

The Illini will have to build on that momentum when they travel to Bloomington to face Indiana on Saturday before their crucial match with Ohio State on Sunday.