Hosting then-No. 14 Pepperdine was tough. Traveling to No. 5 Virginia was even tougher. But the Illinois men’s tennis team arguably faces its most difficult stretch of the season coming up when they take on No. 36 Duke, No. 8 Tennessee and No. 7 Florida in a five-day span.

Before the Illini worry about Tuesday’s battle with Florida, however, they have to get through their weekend matches against the Blue Devils and Volunteers.

Illinois (3-1) is competing in its first match since a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Virginia. Since then, the Illini have had two weeks to contemplate the loss while working on conditioning and court presence, especially from their younger players.

“We worked really hard this last week to prepare ourselves,” freshman Dennis Nevolo said. “We worked on fitness and intensity, just making sure we’ll be ready to go out and compete. It’s going to be a tough weekend. They’re both really good teams, but if we come out with intensity, it should be the outcome we’re looking for.”

One of the brightest spots for Illinois so far has been the play of Marek Czerwinski. The junior notched the lone victory for Illinois in the loss to Virginia two weeks ago and is now 4-0 in singles matches on the dual-match season.

“I’ve been working on mentally preparing myself for battle, no matter who I play,” Czerwinski said. “This weekend is going to be very difficult, mainly because it’s two matches in a row and it’s against two difficult opponents.”

The contest against Duke (3-1) appears to be the typical “trap game” before two top-10 teams travel to Atkins Tennis Center. The men from Durham, N.C., boast the same record as Illinois, including wins over No. 33 Virginia Commonwealth and No. 44 Penn State. Duke’s only loss came to No. 17 Florida State, 5-2, last weekend.

The Net Nuts, members of the student cheering section, should be out in full force on Friday. Eight members of the football team, including quarterback Juice Williams and running back Daniel Dufrene, are set to play an exhibition tennis match during the intermission. “We’re gonna need all the Net Nuts we can get out there, all the crazies and people dressed in orange,” Illinois head coach Brad Dancer said. “If that happens, it’s going to be a big, big bonus for us.”

Tennessee (4-0) could be the Illini’s hardest match of the coming week, as the Volunteers come to town 24 hours after the matchup with Duke. Illinois will have little time to think about Friday’s outcome before taking the court against a hungry SEC foe.

“The whole challenge of having one tough match after another after another is huge,” Dancer said. “It’s not going to be easy. We have so many matches coming up, so we’ll see. It’s funny. Coaches speculate, but anything can happen. Bottom line is that it really is going to be one match at a time. We’ll have to play well enough to win and regroup and do it again.”