After a weekend off from competition due to the postponement of three home matches, the Illini will travel to Ann Arbor this Friday for a match against the No. 20 Michigan Wolverines, and then to South Bend on Saturday for a match against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Illinois is going into this weekend’s matches coming off of a two-match losing streak to No. 22 NC State and No. 19 Oklahoma, and it was eliminated from ITA Kickoff Weekend after only winning three points on the weekend. Deemed a “frustrating weekend” by head coach Brad Dancer, the Illini will look to bounce back with two very big dual matches this weekend.

The No. 20 Wolverines are coming into Friday’s match following a 4-3 loss to No. 16 Harvard and will be looking to regain their footing against this Illini roster. The last time these two teams met was in last season’s Big Ten semifinals, when the Illini won, 4-2. A repeat win against the Wolverines would be the Illini’s first ranked win this season and would give them a much-needed boost in momentum going into their next few matches.

Following Friday’s match against the Wolverines, the Illini will travel to South Bend for a match against the Fighting Irish. This Notre Dame roster is currently 4-1 on the season, with the team’s only loss coming at the hands of No. 6 Wake Forest. The last time the Fighting Irish faced the Illini was in last year’s NCAA tournament, which the Illini won, 4-0, to advance to the Sweet 16. Replicating this performance will be key for the Illini, as two wins on the weekend would move them back to an even .500 record.

Bright spots early in the season for the Illini have been shown in two main areas: Court 1 in singles and Court 1 in doubles. This success has shown in the most recent ITA rankings, which were published on Wednesday.

Previously No. 97 graduate student Olivier Stuart has played the majority of his matches on Court 1 for the Illini in singles this season, beating two top-40 opponents in his first three matches. As a result of this consistent performance, Stuart has jumped 34 spots and is now ranked No. 63 in singles.

Court 1 for doubles has also seen great success for the Illini, as sophomore Hunter Heck and redshirt sophomore Lucas Horve have started all matches on Court 1 for doubles for this Illinois team this season. In preseason, the pair won a match against the previously ranked No. 3 doubles team from Georgia Tech. This success has carried into the regular season, as the pair have only dropped one match, a 7-5 loss to the current No. 1 doubles team, hailing from Ohio State. This consistency from the pair has earned them the No. 57 ranking for doubles.

After the team’s win against Chicago State, Heck reflected on what it has taken to bring this No. 57 pair such great success so far this season.

“We played a lot of doubles over the summer, just a lot of tournaments,” Heck said. “I think just that experience playing together has really helped us so far going into this season, and I think that confidence has translated over to singles as well.”

The Illini’s weekend will start in Ann Arbor on Friday night with the team’s match against the Wolverines at 5 p.m., followed by Saturday’s match in South Bend against the Fighting Irish at 4 p.m. A big weekend for the Illini could see them move back into the top 25, which would give them a great boost in confidence going into conference play in the coming weeks.

@DrewFriberg9

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