COLLEGE STATION -- The 17th-ranked Texas A&M men’s tennis team travels through Big Ten Conference country this weekend to compete against the likes of No. 12 Illinois on Friday, March 5 at 6 p.m. (CT) in Urbana-Champaign, Ill., and No. 3 Ohio State on Sunday, March 7 at noon (ET) in Columbus, Ohio.

The Aggies (7-2) are in the midst of a tough three-game road swing prior to hosting eight-straight dual matches at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center during the month of March and through the spring break holiday in College Station. They last defeated regional rival LSU, 5-2, on Feb. 28 in Baton Rouge, La., and have practiced indoors in preparation for the faster conditions this weekend versus the Fighting Illini (5-5) and Buckeyes (11-1).

“I think we have a better indoor team this year than we’ve had in the past,” said Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton whose Aggies lost 6-1 in their last road trip to Illinois in his first season in 2007. “We have some guys who are more attacking players and are more adaptable to those conditions. But, these are two really good, top-ranked teams that both play very well indoors and both were in the ITA National Indoor Championships. We’re going to have to play well to be successful.”

Last year, A&M hosted OSU and Illinois in similar back-to-back weekend matchups. Inclement weather forced the Aggies and Buckeyes indoors in their last outing. A&M nearly pulled off the upset with a close 4-3 loss on March 13, 2009. Former three-time All-American Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas) and current junior All-American Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) won at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, while the Aggies claimed the doubles point. Two days later, sophomore Colin Hoover (Victoria, Texas), then in his rookie campaign, clinched a 4-3 victory over then-No. 7 Illinois on March 15, 2009. He rallied past the Illini’s Brian Livingston, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, at the No. 6 line to give A&M its highest-ranked victory in the Steve Denton Era. Once again, Pollock and Krajicek contributed to the final team score as the Aggies picking up the doubles point for the second-straight match.

Krajicek is one of two A&M players currently ranked in the latest Campbell/ITA singles rankings at No. 16 in the nation with an undefeated 7-0 record at the top of the lineup for the Aggies. He is joined in the national rankings by junior Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.) at No. 33. The Aggie duo are also No. 9 in the country with a 5-3 mark at No. 1 doubles.

They are not the only ranked opponents this weekend as Illinois is paced by No. 43 Dennis Nevolo, No. 66 Abe Souza and No. 106 Marek Czerwinski and Ohio State is led by No. 23 Chase Buchanan, No. 30 Justin Kronauge, No. 47 Dino Marcan and No. 91 Shuhei Uzawa. The Buckeyes return seven letterwinners from last year’s 36-2 squad which lost only twice in the national championship match to USC in College Station on May 19 and Tennessee on Feb. 14. This will be the first road trip to Columbus for the Aggies (2-1) in three all-time meetings with OSU.

“Playing on the road makes a huge difference,” Denton said. “One of the major keys for us will be how well we return serve indoors. I think the teams who are accustomed to playing indoors, return better than teams that play outdoors. We will have to acclimate and do well in that area in order to be successful this weekend at both sites.”

Both schools boast an avid fan following in hostile road environments. Illinois will host the Aggies at the Atkins Tennis Center and OSU at The Ohio State University Varsity Indoor Tennis Center. Live scoring and updates will be available at: www.fightingillini.com and www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

2000 Big 12 Tennis Championship Team Reunion Weekend…The Texas A&M Lettermen’s Association will welcome back and honor the 2000 Big 12 Conference Men’s Tennis Championship Team the weekend of March 19-21 in College Station. Former players Gonzalo Anderson, Juan Aramburo, Dumitru Caradima, Keith From, Cory Hubbard, Cody Hubbell, Shuon Madden, Stephen Moros, Ryan Newport, Jarin Skube and Andrew Spiegel will be recognized prior to the Aggie men’s match versus Pepperdine on Friday, March 19 at 6 p.m. (CT) at the Mitchell Tennis Center.