After two weeks without competition, the No. 14 Illinois men’s tennis team is ready to get back in action. Illinois will travel to Evanston, Ill., to take on in-state rival Northwestern on Sunday. 

Illinois’ last competed in Houston, where the Illini battled with No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 19 Pepperdine. The result of the weekend was a 1-2 record, with a 4-0 sweep of Pepperdine sandwiched between close losses to Oklahoma (4-3) and Texas A&M (4-2). 

Head coach Brad Dancer said he was pleased with how the team responded against Pepperdine, but was disappointed in the tough losses in the other two matches. 

“We let one slip away against Oklahoma, we really had a good opportunity there,” Dancer said. 

Dancer and his squad have had two weeks to get over the losses to Oklahoma and A&M, and have been working hard in practice to improve. He said practice is very individual-focused, especially during the week leading up to a match. 

“It’s different for each guy, some guys need a day off, and (we) will have some do extra fitness work,” Dancer said. 

“The only thing you can really focus on is yourself,” junior Farris Gosea added. “I’m looking to hit more forehands, just making that a big weapon.” 

Although a sport like tennis does focus much of its attention on the individual, one thing Illinois needs to work on is its performance in the doubles portion of matches. Dancer has made many early-season changes to his pairings already, trying to find the groups that work most consistently.

The Illini have also been working on preparing for the Wildcats, Illinois’ opponent this weekend.

Northwestern has played well to start the season, compiling a 10-4 record in the process. Sunday’s match will be the first conference event for both teams. The Wildcats won’t be able to put all of their focus for this weekend on the visiting Illini though, as they will first travel to Louisville to take on the Cardinals on Friday. Northwestern will then flip right back around to take on Illinois, with just 48 hours between the starting times of the two matches. The Illini and Wildcats have had two common nonconference opponents this season in Notre Dame and Oklahoma. Both teams handled Northwestern very easily, while Illinois took down Notre Dame 5-2, and had a close defeat to Oklahoma. 

The common opponents could say a lot but anything can happen in Big Ten play; especially with both of these teams expecting to finish toward the top of the conference. 

“I’m excited going into Big Ten play but I feel like it’s the same as any other match, you know, you take it the same,” said Gosea. “We’re looking hopefully to start up really good in the Big Ten season.” 

Brett can be reached at [email protected]

and @blerner10.