The Illinois men’s tennis team closed Big Ten play with the same record as last season, but this year’s seniors found more disappointment at the end of their final campaigns.

After rolling Indiana (17-13, 6-5 Big Ten) 6-1 at home for Senior Day, the Illini (15-9, 8-3) set out for West Lafayette, Ind., where they brought down Purdue (16-11, 3-8) 5-2 after nearly five hours.

“I thought we lost our focus in doubles a little bit against Indiana,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “We got a little bit sloppy on all three courts, and the same thing happened (Sunday) … but the guys bounced back well and got focused in singles.”

Still, the Illini grabbed the doubles point as the Hoosiers fell fast 8-1 on Court One to No. 77 sophomore pair of Farris Gosea and Tim Kopinski. Shortly after, the No. 80 freshmen Alex Jesse and Jared Hiltzik wrapped up Court Two 8-5, clinching the point and leaving the third court unfinished.

Dancer said Kopinski, who is usually paired as a No. 11 tandem with sophomore Ross Guignon, was switched around this weekend in order to give Guignon rest heading into the upcoming Big Ten and NCAA tournaments. 

“Ross has been a really valuable member of our team, and we were just trying to make sure he’s completely ready to go for the stretch run of the season,” Dancer said.

As for singles, Illinois took five of six courts, including No. 31 Hiltzik’s 6-2, 6-3 win over Indiana’s top player, No. 104 Sam Monette. But for senior Bruno Abdelnour, his final match was hindered by injury and emotion.

“It was more emotional than I thought it would be,” Abdelnour said. “It was a hard meet with it coming to an end, and the reality is harsh.”

Abdelnour also said his injuries — a groin strain suffered against Duke on Feb. 1 and a quad contusion in practice two weeks ago — had his body breaking down and clamping up in the match, hurting his play. 

Meanwhile, one senior finished up his regular-season career at Illinois with a win, as Stephen Hoh claimed Court Four 6-4, 6-4.

Two days later, the Illini found more challenges against the Boilermakers, who broke Illinois’ six-game doubles streak and sank to 13-11 for doubles matches this season. Illinois fired back in a similar way to Friday, taking five of six courts again for a 5-2 win over Purdue; however, Abdelnour also found similar losing results.

“Bruno (Abdelnour) was up 4-0 in a set, and that certainly would have finished the match pretty quickly,” Dancer said. “We were feeling in control, then Bruno kind of lost his focus, and that put our backs against the wall a little bit. But the guys responded well.”

Illinois is fourth in the conference heading into the Big Ten Tournament, and Dancer said his players’ strong performances has made deciding his top-six singles players difficult going into the postseason. But Abdelnour’s defeats this week won’t sing his swan song as an Illini.

“It was a very frustrating and disappointing end for Bruno in terms of his last home match,” Dancer said. “But that doesn’t take away anything from what he’s done here.” 

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