DETROIT -- The second weekend of men's tennis will kick off Friday afternoon in Illinois. The Titans will play at the University of Illinois Friday at 3:00 p.m. before opening the home portion of the schedule with back-to-back matches Saturday and Sunday at the Franklin Athletic Club in Southfield.
 
Detroit will return home as part of UDM's homecoming weekend and host Duquesne Saturday at 5:00 p.m. followed by a tilt with IPFW Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
 
The Titans are coming off a 7-0 defeat to DePaul on Saturday after opening dual-match play with a 6-1 loss at Western Michigan on Thursday.
 
The Friday afternoon contest will be the dual-match season opener for Illinois. The first Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings of the year featured the Fighting Illini as the No. 17 ranked team while they also have the No. 2 ranked singles player in Dennis Nevolo and the No. 24 singles ranked player in Roy Kalmanovich. A season ago, Illinois advanced to the NCAA round of 16 for the ninth time in 10 years.
 
Duquesne will open the 2012 season with a road match at Cleveland State on Friday before taking on the Titans Saturday.  Last year, Detroit played at Duquesne winning by a 6-1 score. Also the 2010 season marked a new Dukes-high as the team finished third in the conference tournament.
 
IPFW, out of the Summit League, will also be making its dual-match debut against Detroit on Sunday. The Mastodons finished 9-14 last season, which included a 6-1 loss to the Titans in Fort Wayne on Feb. 19.
 
After this weekend, the team will play two more home matches as Xavier, which will be a doubleheader with the women's team, will be in town on Jan. 28 at 7:00 p.m. and another home match will feature local rival Wayne State on Feb. 2 at 9:00 p.m.