A nervous hush fell over the outdoor courts of Atkins Tennis Center on Saturday, as a visiting LSU team, scoring in timely bursts, built an early 2-0 lead against the favored Illini.

An escape to the NCAA Tournament’s round of 16 required host Illinois to do something it has failed to do the entire season – pull out a win after dropping the doubles point.

Strong efforts in singles play proved to remedy the early deficit, sending No. 15 Illinois to a 4-2 victory against the No. 18 Tigers.

“This is one of the best matches we played this year in terms of a learning experience,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “You hate to talk about learning experience in the NCAA Tournament, but what you’re always looking for is how these types of matches, where you have no idea what’s going to happen, it’s so close throughout, all the matches are really tight, and then all of a sudden something changes, and the pendulum flips a little bit for you, and that’s exactly what happened today.”

After suffering a pair of losses separated by mere seconds in doubles play, gritty performances highlighted Illini victories on three of the four top singles courts.

Junior Marc Spicijaric and freshman Roy Kalmanovich made quick work of their opponents on courts three and five, respectively, while their teammates found themselves in a series of tightly contested matches.

LSU’s Jan Zelezny was pesky but ultimately no match for No. 42 Ruben Gonzales in a 6-4, 6-4 Tiger loss, while a clinching performance by sophomore Billy Heiser sealed the win for Illinois and extended the program’s consecutive berths in the Sweet 16 to seven.

Heiser, however, pointed out a clear distinction between this year’s team and those of the past.

“It’s tough because the teams before us, the 2003 team and the ’04 team and the ’02 team before that, were so dominant, we knew what was going to happen,” Heiser said. “They could run through teams like that and be done in an hour and a half. We have a lot of good players, a lot of talented players, but we have a lot of different styles, so every match we’re going to have work. We’re not going to be able to go out there and hit serves at 140 (mph) and forehands and blow them off the court. Roy, myself, Waylon (Chin), Marc, we’re kind of grinders. We wear guys down and break their wills. That’s kind of why it pays off in tournament play because we play a lot of long matches and teams get tired.”

Keeping the team mentally composed was no easy task for Dancer and his fellow coaches, who stayed very active on the sidelines throughout the match. The method extended into the locker room, too, where Dancer tried his best to instill focus and persistence in his players after the Illini dropped the doubles point.

“You could say, ‘You got to do this or do that,’ I just said, ‘Listen. You don’t have to do anything special, just keep believing in yourself, believe in your execution, stay in the moment, don’t get ahead, don’t look at the scores, don’t follow anything else.'”

The victory sets the stage for a potential third-round meeting with Big Ten rival Ohio State on Friday in Tulsa, Okla. The Buckeyes have already defeated the Illini twice this season, including a 4-3 win in the Big Ten Tournament Championship two weeks ago.

On Saturday, a sigh of relief, breathed by coaches, players and fans alike, capped off the come-from-behind victory.

Heiser even earned a postgame ice bath for his clinching win, a testament to a larger sense of team cohesion that may prove invaluable to the Illini as they venture deeper into the postseason.

“The only time we’ve done (the ice bath) was last year, on this court Ryan (Rowe) clinched against Michigan and we gave him an ice bath, actually I gave him the ice bath.

“So I don’t know if it’s payback or what, but it’s cold.”