Having a weekend break from meets, Illinois will travel this week to Gainesville and Orlando, Florida, for matches against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, the No. 4 Florida Gators and the Central Florida Knights.

The Illini are going into Wednesday and Friday’s matches coming off the back of two tough defeats at Atkins just a week ago to the then-No. 1 ranked TCU and No. 5 Baylor. 

This week’s first match for the Illini features a 3-6 Fairleigh Dickinson roster. The Knights are currently suffering their biggest losing streak of the year, losing their last four. Coming into Wednesday with no momentum, the Illini must capitalize on this opportunity to move them closer to an even record.

After the match against the Knights, the No. 4 Florida Gators will be Illinois’ next test. The Illini have played three of the current top five teams in the rankings this season and have lost to all of them. This gives Illinois another chance to take down a big opponent. The talented Gators roster currently boasts an 11-2 record and is on a six-match win streak. All of these wins have come against top-10 opponents with the highlight being their 5-2 triumph over the current No. 1 Tennessee roster just three days ago. This will arguably be the Illini’s toughest test yet this season. 

Within this Illinois roster, returning members from the team last year will remember that Florida knocked them out of the Sweet Sixteen of last year’s NCAA Championships. This may be the motivation the team needs to take down a top-tier Gators roster.

After a break on Thursday, Illinois will then set their sights on the match against Central Florida. The Knights are sitting at 5-9 on the season and are currently on a two-game win streak. While the Knights hold a slightly better record than the Illini, they don’t have a win over a ranked opponent like the Illini do. This should be an even match for both teams who are looking to improve their records and move up in the rankings.

Speaking of rankings, last Wednesday saw singles and doubles rankings update again. These refreshed rankings featured two Illini in the singles rankings and one Illini pair in the doubles rankings.

Arguably the brightest spot this season for Illinois has been in their doubles. Sophomore Hunter Heck and redshirt sophomore Lucas Horve, who have played all of their matches on Court 1 for doubles, have moved up to No. 35 in their rankings. 

In singles, the Illini have been shaky, but two Illini have been reliable on their courts for the entire season. Graduate student Olivier Stuart has played well on Court 1 and Court 2 this season. Last weekend, he took a top-10 singles opponent to a third set before the match was abandoned. This was reflected in the rankings as he moved from No. 108 to No. 62. Additionally, Heck broke into the rankings for the first time this season, after earning two of his three singles points this past weekend. This was reflected in the rankings as Heck is now No. 116.

All three of these ranked players for Illinois will need to be playing their best tennis if the Illini hope to leave this week with three wins.

The action starts on Wednesday at 11 a.m. with the match against Fairleigh Dickinson, shortly followed by the team’s match against the Florida Gators at 5 p.m. After a day break, Illinois will take on Central Florida for its last match of the week on Friday at 4 p.m.

@DrewFriberg9

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