The men’s tennis team is set to invade the state of Kentucky, as four Illini will be traveling south to attend a pair of national tournaments this weekend.

Sophomore Billy Heiser and freshman Connor Roth will head to Lexington, Ky., for the Charles Fluitt Invitational, while their teammates Abe Souza and Jordan Knue look to contend at the 10th annual Louisville Fall Invitational.

Heiser and Roth have their work cut out for them, as the Fluitt’s exclusive field of 20 participants includes some of the top players in the country. Both will also be playing for the automatic wild card spot in the qualifying tournament for the 2008 Cincinnati ATP Masters that will be awarded to the tournament’s champion.

The Fluitt’s top-level competition promises to provide the two Illini with valuable experience as they continue to hone their skills during the fall season.

“Everybody’s going to be ranked, everyone’s going to be top three in their lineups at their respective schools,” Heiser said. “It’s going to be good competition and a good way for me to judge where I am and what I need to work on before our big season starts.”

The Louisville Invitational will feature a local variety of entries, as teams from Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana will participate in the 16-school field.

Like their teammates that will be competing in Lexington, Souza and Knue are approaching the event as a means to fine-tune their individual games.

Souza has developed a very specific agenda for improvement that he plans to institute this weekend.

“(Head coach Brad Dancer) and I have been working on my new service motion the last month and a half,” Souza said. “The biggest thing for me is hitting the serve really big and figuring out what to do if the return comes back. So I need to be serving really big and focus on the organization of my racquet on the return.”

Experience in competitive tournaments is an invaluable asset to any collegiate tennis player during the fall season, as it tends to increase personal success in both the regular season and playoffs.

For Dancer, the process of deciding who receives the opportunity to attend these tournaments is a methodical one.

“We look at the work ethic in practice, we look at the productivity they’re putting out and we also try to make sure everybody gets a shot as well,” Dancer said. “It’s a balancing act for us of looking at what’s happening in practice, who’s making the most out of their opportunities, and the guys that do that get the most opportunities to go out and compete.”

Souza and Knue will get a head start on their teammates this weekend as play at the Louisville Invitational begins at 9 a.m. on Friday. Heiser and Roth must wait until Saturday morning for singles play to open at the Fluitt Invitational.