The Illinois men’s tennis team hasn’t been at the top of its game the past two weeks. After dropping its first Big Ten match to Minnesota two weekends ago and falling out of the top 25, the Illini lost to Michigan on the road, as the Wolverines climbed to No. 24 in the rankings.

The competition is only expected to get tougher, as Illinois welcomes No. 5 Ohio State this weekend, but there are important factors of the Illini’s game that need to be looked at before ruling them out.

Doubles recovery

Illinois’ spring season started poorly in doubles play, losing six of its first seven doubles matches. Big Ten play has seen the Illini at 6-1 for securing doubles point, yielding their only point to Wisconsin — a point which would be Wisconsin’s only of the match. Now, Illinois’ doubles game levels out at an even .500 in its 20 matches.

Singles woes

After Minnesota exposed weak spots in the Illini’s singles game two weeks ago, Michigan took advantage, claiming five of six singles courts. Illinois head coach Brad Dancer said the team had trouble balancing composure with energy at Minnesota and that they would work on fixing this as a team before Michigan. Given the weekend, though, which saw Illinois losing eight of 12 singles courts to Michigan and Michigan State, the Illini may be heading into trouble this weekend.

Tough tandem

Sophomores Tim Kopinski and Ross Guignon are a No. 22 duo as of March 26, and the ranking is expected to rise after defeating No. 12 Evan King and Shaun Bernstein at Michigan last weekend. While Ohio State boasts the No. 13 pair of Peter Kobelt and Connor Smith, Kopinski and Guignon sport a 4-0 record against ranked opponents when paired together, all of which were ranked No. 39 or better.

Against the odds

Illinois has played eight matches against top-25 opponents this season. When Illinois was ranked No. 16, they lost to then-No. 19 Tennessee and then-No. 24 Tulsa. Their only victory over a top-25 team ranked below them came against then-No. 20 Northwestern. When it comes to teams ranked above them, Illinois dropped three of its five matches but managed to record two top-seven wins over then-No. 5 Duke and then-No. 7 Kentucky.

Home court

The Illini are 2-2 since hitting the road two weeks ago, but they will be back at Atkins Tennis Center for their next three matches. On the season, Illinois has played 11 of its 20 matches at home, including seven back-to-back from the end of January into March, and turned out a 6-5 record in those contests; however, three of those ended with the Illini getting shut out by top-25 opponents.

J.J. can be reached at [email protected] and @Wilsonable07.