For the first and only time this fall season, the Illinois women’s tennis team won’t have to worry about travel hassles before playing its upcoming tournament.

After playing a fall schedule comprised of trips to California, New York and Michigan, the Illini will stay home this weekend to host the Midwest Blast at the Atkins Tennis Center. The tournament begins Friday and extends through Sunday as the Illini play host to Missouri, Wake Forest and Purdue. It is the second consecutive year that the Illini will host the Midwest Blast, and members of the squad are eager to perform in front of a home crowd.

“It’s always really nice playing at home,” junior Julia Jamieson said. “A lot of us are from Chicago, so we get family to come back, and it’s always nice playing on our home court since we’re used to it.”

Illini head coach Michelle Dasso noted that matchups with Missouri and Wake Forest will feature two teams the Illini typically don’t see on their schedule, while their matches against Purdue will provide a valuable preview of a Big Ten opponent for the spring. Purdue finished fourth in the conference last spring while compiling an 18-6 overall record. Missouri and Wake Forest are both coming off losing 2013 spring campaigns. Dasso touted the benefits of playing at Atkins, which include the academic perks of staying home.

“I think this is one of the best facilities in the country,” Dasso said. “We’re always excited to play at home, particularly when you don’t have to miss too much school, so I think it’s good for our student-athletes. We can tape the matches, which is a really good learning tool for our girls.”

Although Atkins may be one of the best facilities in the country, it also serves as a comfortable setting for the Illini to compete. The players enjoy competing in front of their home fans, but the quirks of a home venue are important as well.

“The people who come are great; it’s really exciting to have everybody here,” sophomore Audrey O’Connor said. “The environment’s familiar. You know the pace of the courts, how fast the ball’s bouncing, the lighting.”

Jamieson said Atkins provides a unique home court advantage when it comes to match-play style.

“Our courts are so different compared to most other schools so it’s an advantage,” Jamieson said. “The courts are way slower than other schools; I think they purposely made them that way. Most schools, their courts are lightning fast, and it’s really hard to adjust to. Slow courts will make it harder because people will not be used to it.”

The tournament will feature a hidden dual-match format, meaning each team will play each other once in singles and doubles, though a particular team will not play singles and doubles against the same team on the same day. On the doubles side of play, expect the Illini to switch up some of the tandems after an up-and-down start to the season. The team has been working on a lot of doubles play, and repetition in practice to get used to playing with their new doubles partners.

“We’re going to switch them all up, to be honest,” Dasso said.

The Illini will open up doubles play against Missouri on Friday at 9 a.m. and will face Purdue at 3:30. Junior All-American Melissa Kopinski and senior All-Big Ten honoree Allison Falkin will lead the Illini into singles against Wake Forest at 6 p.m.

The Illini also play at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday before closing out the tournament with singles matches against Purdue on Sunday, beginning at 11 a.m.

Alex can be reached at [email protected] and @aroux94.