Coming off a shoulder injury that kept him out of competition earlier in the year, former Illini standout Ryler DeHeart drew the praise of his former coach Brad Dancer for his gutsy homecoming effort. DeHeart fell just short in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) loss to Kaden Hensel in the first round of the JSM Challenger of Champaign-Urbana, an eight-day UTSA pro circuit event held at Atkins Tennis Center.

“In a sense you’ve just got to tip your hat to Ryler for just getting on the court,” Dancer said. “He’s been banged up and real hurt, and I think it was a gamey effort for him just to get out there and play,” he said.

DeHeart, who was named to the All-America team in 2005 and 2006 while with the Illini, came back from a first-set loss to force a third-set tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, each player alternated points for a bit before Hensel recorded a key fourth point following a 3-3 tie. Despite DeHeart’s effort, he dropped the tiebreaker 7-3 to the Australian.

“I went in, obviously I haven’t played in a little bit and went in with nothing to lose,” DeHeart said. “I was swinging free out there. It felt good, I was having fun, I just wanted to get back out there and kind of experience it again. I think it could have gone either way actually.”

After climbing out of a one-set hole, DeHeart jumped out to a 3-1 lead over Hensel in the second set by way of some aggressive play and several first-serve aces. The pivotal fifth game saw each player on the brink of losing before DeHeart pushed Hensel to advantage, winning on the next serve.

“I think (DeHeart) started to find his flow and rhythm, and he really seized control of the baseline,” Dancer said. “He started to dominate and dictate points and obviously took a lead. Down the stretch, I think the difference was he didn’t make a lot of first serves and that allowed Kaden to play a little more aggressive and that got Ryler off the baseline a little bit.”

Hensel thought the second set served as a wake-up call, which propelled him to the win.

“It was very close, obviously by the score I got off to a good start,” he said. “(I) had a good first set, didn’t make many errors at all. Second set he lifted a little, you can see he started freeing up a bit, started going for bigger shots, and they were coming off so there was not much I could do in the second.”

DeHeart and Dancer both agreed that the event is a bonus for the Illini program, both as a showcase for recruiting and a chance for former Illini to return to campus.

“(The event) is huge (for the program),” DeHeart said. “It’s a great recruiting tool for us to say that we host a challenger here. We have a great facility… that’s now better. It’s just great for guys to get the chance to come out and get a wildcard, (it’s a) great practice week for the guys, and (it’s) just a great experience to be around this level of tennis when you’re on the college scene.”