At the start of March, it would have been hard for anyone to believe the Illinois men’s tennis team would find strength in doubles play.

For its third consecutive weekend, Illinois (13-9, 6-3 Big Ten) split Big Ten play, edged out 4-3 by Ohio State on Friday before shutting out Penn State on Sunday. But capturing the first point in each of its last five conference matches has given the Illini the push they have needed.

The intensity was high Friday as no doubles match ended with more than a three-point deficit. The No. 19 sophomore tandem of Ross Guignon and Tim Kopinski pulled out 9-8 (7-3) win over No. 16 pair Peter Kobelt and Connor Smith, rising to 10-1 overall and 5-0 against top-25 opponents when paired together. Illinois clinched the doubles point when freshman duo Alex Jesse and Jared Hiltzik prevailed over No. 32 Devin McCarthy and Ille Van Engelen at 9-8 (7-3).

“We talk a lot,” Guignon said. “A lot of teams don’t like to talk too much strategy, and we’re really comfortable changing things. We’ve got a real good one-two punch together.”

Taking the doubles point from Ohio State, a first for any Big Ten squad this season, Illinois attempted to carry its momentum into singles play, with No. 36 Hiltzik at the helm and set to take on No. 9 Blaz Rola. 

Even with senior Bruno Abdelnour sitting on account of a contusion to his right quad, the Illini brought a tough battle against five top-100 players. Hiltzik defeated Rola, and the Illini took three matches into a third set; however, four courts couldn’t stay alive, and they were forced to surrender the match to the Buckeyes.

“Ohio State is a great team,” Dancer said. “I give a lot of credit to McCarthy, I give a lot of credit to Kobelt, and in a match that’s close like that, it can go either way. You don’t know how it’s going to go.” 

Illinois missed its second-to-last opportunity to play an outdoor home match on account of rough winds. The Illini didn’t drop the chance to remind Penn State who the better conference team is, though, shutting them out with ease 7-0.

Illinois mixed its pairs in doubles, separating Kopinski and Guignon, but that didn’t faze them as they claimed all three courts for the doubles point. The charged Illini squad rolled right into singles and put the Nittany Lions down for good with the last six points all earned in the first two sets.

But even the shutout, which echoed the same success the team had over Iowa and Nebraska earlier this season, wasn’t enough to deter the Illini from their constant, match-by-match mindset and integrity.

“No matter who we’re playing, Ohio State, Penn State, any team in the Big Ten, we have a standard of how we want to play,” Guignon said. “That’s our main focus, not really who we’re playing.”

Dancer said the team has made his job difficult in the sense of determining which players will be his top-six singles guys. There isn’t a set, six players who stand out as the elite, and everyone is playing on similar levels and competing hard. But he also said figuring out the team lineup, in this case, isn’t his main concern.

“We’ve got to play to a certain standard, play to a certain performance level, that’s it,” Dancer said. “Get obsessed with that. Just get absolutely obsessed with what we want out of goals this year and get really clear and focused on that.”

J.J. can be reached at [email protected] and @wilsonable07.