Stephen Hoh was expecting one more home match.

However, the senior’s bid for another competition at home fell short, and the Illinois men’s tennis team lost to No. 16 Vanderbilt 4-1 in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday.

The loss was particularly devastating for the Illini (17-11) because the rest of the tournament will be hosted at the team’s home courts at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana.

“It was an extraordinarily disappointing loss for us,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “Our program has high expectations and an opportunity to play in front of our home crowd was something we anticipated being able to do.”

The Illini were feeling confident heading into the match after dispatching of Georgia State by a 4-0 margin Friday. The Illini wouldn’t experience nearly as much success against the much tougher Vanderbilt Commodores team the following day, although it wasn’t for a lack of chances.

All three doubles matches were tied at 3-3 and the Illini’s first and third doubles pairings were up a break point on the Commodores. Vanderbilt took control of the matches from that point and went to win both doubles matches, including an upset of the Illini’s No. 16 pairing of sophomores Tim Kopinski and Ross Guignon. It was just the duo’s second loss since April 7.

“They gave us opportunities in all three doubles matches,” Dancer said. “And we didn’t really capitalize on any of them.”

The Commodores’ momentum carried into singles action as they stretched their lead to 3-0 after No. 10 Ryan Lipman beat No. 32 Jared Hiltzik 6-4, 6-4, and No. 46 Gonzales Austin defeated Kopinski 6-4, 6-2. Hiltzik’s loss at the No. 1 singles spot was the freshman’s first in his last eight matches.

Freshman Alex Jesse got the Illini on the board with a 7-5, 6-0 victory at No. 5 singles, but Vanderbilt clinched the win with Rhys Johnson over Guignon 6-3, 6-3.

“I thought we were waiting the opponent to make the error instead of going out and get the win,” Hoh said. “We were more reactive rather than proactive.”

The Illini were shorthanded without senior Bruno Abdelnour, who broke his wrist in what Dancer called a “freak accident” in practice a few days before the first round. Abdelnour has been battling injuries all season, including a groin strain in February and a quad contusion in April, and his experience was missed from the courts for the Illini.

Without Abdelnour, the entire Illini lineup was freshmen and sophomores with the lone exception being the senior Hoh.

“Bruno has been a difference-maker for us for four years,” Dancer said. “I believe he would have been a difference-maker (Saturday) as well.”

While the team didn’t have Abdelnour, his senior classmate Hoh said that the team’s expectation was to get another match at home and make it to the Sweet 16. While it first hit him on senior day against Indiana on April 19 that his tennis career was coming to a close, Hoh said he was still emotional after the loss Saturday.

“At the time, we all thought we had a good chance to make it back for the Sweet 16,” Hoh said. “But for some reason that didn’t work out.”

While the team’s season is over, there are still goals at stake for individual competition, beginning next week. Hiltzik earned a spot in the NCAA singles tournament and the duo of Kopinski and Guignon earned a spot in the NCAA doubles tournament, both begin May 22-27 also at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex.

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.