The No. 13 Illinois men’s tennis team is happy to host its first home match in more than a month when it takes on No. 41 Notre Dame on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Atkins Tennis Center.

“I’m really excited,” Marek Czerwinski said. “I think Atkins is one of the best places to play a home match. I think it’s going to be really important, actually, for us throughout the next couple of matches.”

The biggest factor for the Illini (4-5) is having a home crowd.

“They just will us through those tough times,” said Czerwinski, who is ranked No. 113 nationally. “They give us that extra firepower when we need it, that extra fight when we need it, and courage.”

Freshman Stephen Hoh agreed that the crowd can be a momentum boost. The team lost at Florida on Sunday in front of a larger crowd than normal, which included Illini tennis great Kevin Anderson and a few more former players.

“Kevin Anderson and those guys are pretty loud, and I think that kind of fired us up a bit,” Hoh said. “I think it makes a massive difference (to play at home). You train here every day. It’s a second home pretty much.”

The Illini have a tall order in front of them in the form of the Fighting Irish (6-5), who are coming off of big wins against Michigan State, No. 31 Wisconsin and Toledo last weekend. Illinois head coach Brad Dancer was impressed with Notre Dame’s depth, as the squad has four ranked players, including No. 28 Casey Watt.

Tuesday will be a chance for No. 42 Dennis Nevolo to redeem himself against Watt at the No. 1 singles spot, as Watt won at the ITA Midwest Regionals in October.

Dancer has seen improvement from Hoh, who joined the team at the start of the semester and will likely go up against No. 105 Blas Moros at No. 5 singles.

“For Hoh it’s kind of calibrating his arousal levels where he’s in the right mode of where he needs to be,” Dancer said. “It’s not an easy adjustment coming in January, and we’ve got to get him to where we give him a little bit better clarity in terms of his match play and what he’s got to do.”

Czerwinski, who is coming off of a singles win against Florida, admits that this match will not be easy. He will likely go up against No. 101 Daniel Stahl.

“Throughout their lineup they have a lot of even amount of play,” Czerwinski said. “I think anybody on their team could probably play one (singles), so we’re going to have to be ready at all positions. They’re going to be ready to fight, and that means we have to be ready to battle as well.”