Ohio State is a tennis giant.

At No. 5 in the country, this season’s Buckeye team has dominated the Big Ten, housing five singles players ranked in the top 100, and three top-50 doubles tandems. When they came to Atkins Tennis Center last Friday, Ohio State got much of the usual fight expected year-to-year from the Illinois program. But that program had a new weapon in its arsenal — and he was about to take down the Buckeyes’ No. 1 guy.

Freshman Jared Hiltzik, the No. 1 singles player for Illinois this season, would earn the Big Ten Athlete of the Week award by winning all four of his matches, including a victory over Ohio State’s No. 9 Blaz Rola this weekend.

Hiltzik has big goals in mind for his time at Illinois, hoping to turn pro one day. Having been ranked No. 1 by TennisRecruiting.com, he entered the 2012-13 season looking to prove himself at a collegiate level. He marked his start with a strong 9-3 record at the end of the fall, good for a No. 114 ranking in singles. But it wasn’t until he defeated then-No. 23 Fred Saba of Duke that he really got the ball rolling.

Entering Friday’s match, Hiltzik knew who he would be facing, but didn’t dwell on it. His ranking — No. 36 at the time — wasn’t on his mind either. For him, his game relies on focusing match-by-match, point-by-point. He doesn’t care who is on the other side of the net or feel any extra pressure from his opponent. He’s just there to play great tennis.

“I try not to (think of it any differently),” Hiltzik said. “When I start thinking about my opponent, it affects my vision too much.”

But to start, Hiltzik would be paired with teammate and close friend Alex Jesse as a double tandem to take on No. 32 Devin McCarthy and Ille Van Engelen on Court Two. Ohio State took Court Three quickly while Illinois returned fire and won Court One. All eyes fell on Hiltzik and Jesse, who were down 40-15 and tied at 7-7.

The rally came and tandems went into a tiebreaker, where Hiltzik and Jesse broke away 7-3, winning the match 9-8 (3) and clinching the doubles point. And though he knew the day was just starting, Hiltzik took a moment to dash to his partner, flash a grin and celebrate with a casual fist bump.

“(Our) chemistry I don’t think could be better,” Jesse said. “Jared and I, not only have similar games on the court, but off the court, hang out all the time and know each other like the back of our heads.”

Fifty minutes later, Hiltzik found himself in the middle of the action against Rola, with a 2-1 match score against the Illini staring him in the back. But it didn’t seem to faze Hilztik as he wrapped up the first set 6-4 before finishing out at 7-5 in the second to hand Rola his first loss of the season.

“I think it’s a great achievement for him,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “I think his aspirations and goals are higher, which is always nice. You don’t want someone sitting there, protecting what they’ve done. We talk a lot about that: ‘Great job so far, great work, you’ve gotten there because of your work either, now let’s take it a step further.’”

Hiltzik seemed to follow Dancer’s words, as he brought his game against Penn State two days later and downed another tandem paired with Jesse (8-4) before a 6-4, 7-5 victory in singles to hit 4-0 on the weekend.

For the week of April 10, Rola earned Big Ten Athlete of the Week, so it seems only fitting for Hiltzik to snag the following week’s recognition, his second of the year. Though, asking Hiltzik much about the numbers wouldn’t do you any good. He’s worried about his goals and playing good tennis, nothing more.

“My goal is to make All-American,” Jared Hilztik said. “If I have get that goal of All-American, it transforms into better team results with that type of player on the team.”

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