In 2017, the University of Illinois Springfield men's tennis team had several additions to their program, including three freshmen and an assistant coach. Now, four years later, those four are poised to lead the Prairie Stars in one of their most anticipated seasons in program history.
 
Raul Quevedo was the assistant coach on that 2017 team, but now is in his second year as the program's head coach. Among the players he coached that first year were Alex Chan, Tomas Martinez, and Oscar Toro.  That trio has won a combined 196 matches over the last three years, and have helped UIS to its best three-year stretch in its NCAA era with a 27-17 dual record.
 
Chan enters the spring season with a 66-42 record at UIS, including 32 singles wins and 34 doubles victories. Martinez has a 72-44 mark as a Prairie Star, with 36 singles and doubles victories. Toro is currently 58-32 at UIS, with 28 singles wins and 30 doubles victories. In last year's shortened season, all three were middle of the lineup singles players. In doubles, Martinez was at the No. 1 position, and Chan and Toro combined to go 14-3, including a 3-0 record while teamed up together.
 
The No. 1 player in both singles and doubles for the Prairie Stars will be Menno Servaes. Servaes has a 36-17 record at UIS. In the fall at the ITA Regional Championships, he reached the semifinals in the singles bracket, and teamed up with Martinez to reach the championship match in doubles action.
 
Other returners include Matthew Lapsley, Rafa Rojas, and Philip Rydell. Lapsley is 28-26 in two years at UIS. Rojas went 7-7 in his first year at UIS in 2019-20, including 7-2 in singles play. Rydell was 8-3 in his inaugural season last year.
 
The top newcomer on the team is Nick Revin, who transfers from North Carolina Wesleyan. In two collegiate seasons, he went 15-3 in singles play and 8-4 in doubles. Also added to the roster is freshman Ivan Esquerra, who led his high school team to four straight district championships.
 
UIS men's tennis opens up the year on Sunday at Millikin. It has seven non-conference dual contests before it enters the conference season, which will consist of six more matches.