The Illinois men’s tennis team lost three All-Americans to graduation in May, but the freshmen who have replaced them are already proving they will be a force to be reckoned with.

“We recruited them on the assumption that they were going to play and do well,” said Illinois head coach Craig Tiley. “It’s their responsibility now to step up and get the job done.”

Andrew Eklov, Monte Tucker and Brandon Davis took Tiley’s challenge and responded well. Ruben Gonzales, who was recently declared eligible by the NCAA, is determined to prove that although he joined the team late, his tennis skills are not far behind.

Eklov advanced to the Flight ‘B’ finals of the Louisville Fall Invitational. Tucker started his college career ranked 121st in the nation before ever playing a college match. Davis swept through the Napa Valley Invitational, the team’s first tournament, undefeated.

The men’s success has come despite some unusual events.

First, there were the offseason coaching changes. Former Illinois associate head coach Bruce Berque left for a head coaching job at Michigan and Brad Dancer arrived at Illinois – trading his head coach position at Fresno State for the role of associate head coach with the Illini.

At the first tournament of the year, Illinois junior Pramod Dabir, Eklov and Dancer were involved in a near head-on collision. Eklov and Dabir came out of the accident relatively unharmed – Dancer did not. He was airlifted to the Queen of the Valley Hospital and remained in intensive care for approximately three days.

Then, there were the typical adjustments to college life most freshmen face, compounded by the pressure of being part of one of Illinois’ most successful athletic teams.

But the men said there is no place they would rather be.

“I came to the University of Illinois for a number of reasons: First of all, the tennis team is obviously second to none,” Davis said. “Craig and Brad are awesome coaches – the best in the country in my opinion – and it’s tough to find a team that is as close as this one anywhere else.”

Tiley said the men’s enthusiasm for the sport and their positive attitudes have made this season easier. Unlike some teams that dive into competition as soon as athletes arrive on campus, the Illini focus on individual improvement and use various tournaments to prepare for the dual-match season in the spring. Throughout the fall, the men fine-tune, refine and make technical changes to their games.

“It’s a little more difficult, a little more frustrating, a little more challenging, but they have all had a great attitude about it,” Tiley said. “They have been a lot of fun to work with so far.”

For Tiley, this year has paralleled the fall of 2000, when All-Americans Michael Calkins, Amer Delic, Phil Stolt and Brian Wilson first arrived on campus. They were touted as the ‘Fab Four’ and dubbed ranking guru Bob Larson’s No. 1 recruiting class. They had high expectations for themselves and pushed each other to succeed. In 2003, their work paid off when Illinois won the triple crown of college tennis – the NCAA team, doubles and singles titles.

“We got that group going and this group is going to take some time to develop, like the last group did, so this will be a rebuilding year for us,” Tiley said. “But we’ll get it going pretty soon after that.”

These Illini are ready to make a difference now.

Eklov could not wait for the fall season to start. He was tired of the junior circuit and the “psychotic parents.” He had already distinguished himself as one of the best tennis players in California, winning the state doubles title in 2001 and the singles title in 2002. He was also part of the 2000 state championship team. In choosing Illinois, he turned down offers from USC and Virginia.

“I couldn’t wait,” he said. “Right when I signed, I just wanted to come here.”

Part of the reason Eklov excitedly anticipated his arrival at Illinois was because he already felt comfortable in Champaign. His older sister, Tiffany, was a member of the women’s tennis team from 2000 to 2004.

“I’ve been coming here the last fours years, and I grew to love this place,” he said.

Tucker, Eklov’s roommate, faced a vastly different situation.

Prior to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Regional tournament in October, Tucker had never played in or seen a Big Ten match. As a native of Birmingham, Ala., he grew up watching the SEC teams compete. Those teams include perennial power Georgia and Vanderbilt, which lost to Illinois in the quarterfinals of the 2004 NCAA Championships.

But he did not think the SEC schools were the “right fit” for his tennis.

He, like many of the other freshmen, has never competed in a team environment before.

“Juniors is all about playing for yourself,” Tucker said. “So I’m really excited for the season coming up when we have dual matches.”

He has also never experienced an Illinois winter, with its blustery winds, ankle-deep snow and frigid temperatures.

“It’s definitely different for me,” he said. “I’ve been living at the beach for a while and the weather is cold and rainy, and I’m definitely not used to it being cold.”

He has other reasons to miss life in the South.

“I definitely miss my mom’s cooking,” he said.

Although he still misses Alabama, having a teammate as a roommate has made the jump to college competition easier.

“We yell a lot and have a lot of fun,” Tucker said. “It just makes you stronger so that when you’re playing a doubles match, you know what the other person is thinking.”

Davis, a native of Austin, Texas, might have faced the most drastic changes.

“I think it was a tough transition at first, but it’s something you just have to get over,” Davis said. “It is just part of life. When I came here, on my recruiting trip, it was completely different and I knew that my tennis here was going to take off.”

During that trip, Davis was greeted at the airport by Calkins and Tiley, watched the Wisconsin vs. Illinois football game and evaluated the Illinois tennis program. When the trip ended, he crossed Texas and TCU off his list of potential schools. He was ready to be an Illini.

For the first time in his life, he left his tennis-oriented family and the only coach he had ever known – his father, Doug.

“It would have been closer to home,” Davis said of the other schools he looked at. “(Texas) is in my backyard basically, but this is where I had go.”

Gonzales did not have far to go to compete for the Illini. He is a native of Terre Haute, Ind. But he has had to wait longer than usual to begin competing.

On Oct. 22, Gonzales got a phone call from Tiley. Gonzales, who signed his letter of intent to compete for Illinois in May, earned his eligibility from the NCAA Clearinghouse. The straight-A student, who has attended classes at Illinois since August, could finally compete for the Illini.

“It wasn’t looking very good the day before I got cleared,” said Gonzales, who was walking back to his residence hall, depressed, after practicing alone at the Atkins Tennis Center, when Tiley called. The phone call changed his outlook.

“He finally called me, and I was jumping out of my pants,” Gonzales said.

Tiley is excited for Gonzales.

“He’s like a kid in a candy store right now,” said Tiley, who said he still could not explain exactly what happened to keep Gonzales from competing.

Gonzales will compete for the first time this weekend when he, Eklov and senior Evan Zeder compete at the UNLV Fall Classic.

“It’s been a frustrating process, and finally to play is going to be a release,” Gonzales said.

Although Gonzales did not sign his letter of intent until May and was not cleared until October, he said he has never doubted his choice to compete for Illinois. In fact, he never even took an official visit to the campus before signing. He simply weighed the options with Kelly Jones, his coach, and listened to his friend Rajeev Ram, who became an All-American while at Illinois before leaving for the professional ranks.

“(Ram) thought this was the only place in the country to go,” Gonzales said. “This is the place to develop your game to reach your goals in tennis.”

Practices are more intense now for Gonzales, but he said he is excited about his future at Illinois and the goals he and his classmates have set.

“We’re all going to be fighting for spots and we all want to play,” Gonzales said. “It also helps because we’re all good players and we’re going to push each other to get better.”

Gonzales will not be the last one to join the freshman class. Ryan Rowe, who also signed his letter of intent to play for Illinois in May, has yet to suit up for a match. Rowe will join the team in January after graduating from high school.

All of the men have high aspirations. Davis would like to become an All-American while at Illinois and play tennis professionally, like his older brother Tres. Eklov, Tucker and Gonzales also are determined to play professionally.

“Hopefully, this year I get to play in the lineup, contribute to the team, help out and take us back to the Sweet 16 and beyond,” Davis said.

Illinois’ upperclassmen have no doubt the freshmen will succeed.

“They’re all really dedicated. They came in here ready to work hard and they want to improve a lot,” Zeder said. “I know they wanted to come here, but we also really wanted them here because we knew that they were good guys.”