Bruin Day was not the Bruins’ day.

Injuries forced coach Billy Martin to deviate from his typical lineup – putting healthy players with limited experience on the court while veterans could not do much more than watch.

Adding insult to injury, the Bruins – having dropped two of their last three – would face their highest-ranked remaining opponent of the regular season, currently the only team left on their schedule in the top 25.

No. 24 UCLA men’s tennis (13-6, 7-3 Big Ten) played with a hand tied behind its back and ended the day with at least one bandage wrapped around its knee, falling 4-2 to No. 14 Illinois (20-5, 9-2) at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Saturday – all while newly admitted, prospective Bruins toured campus.

“We fought really well,” said senior Aadarsh Tripathi. “Given that few guys are out and few guys are a little hurt, the fight and effort that we showed today – I’m really proud of the guys.”

UCLA’s court one stalwart, No. 52 junior Spencer Johnson, missed doubles and his second consecutive singles match Saturday with an undisclosed injury, Martin said.

Senior Gianluca Ballotta returned to doubles action for the first time since March 20 – losing 6-3 with redshirt junior Emon van Loben Sels to No. 77 David Bakonyi and Zach Viiala – but has yet to play singles since Feb. 26.

[Related: Men’s tennis extends win streak to 6 with victories over Wisconsin, Nebraska]

And junior Andy Nguyen also made the doubles lineup – alongside Tripathi for the sixth straight match – falling to Tyler Bowers and Gabriel Debru. Nguyen, too, sat out for singles.

Though Martin said he was unable to provide a timeline for his players’ recovery, he added that he hopes the Bruins will be at full strength come playoffs.

Freshman Bengt Reinhard trotted out for just the eighth singles showing of his collegiate dual-match career and lost to Adam Jilly 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

Sophomore Leo von Bismarck played his second-ever dual-match singles contest and fell 6-1, 6-1 to Viiala.

“Ultimately, great for them (von Bismarck and Reinhard),” Martin said. “(It) raises their expectation levels, gets them to realize what it’s like, instead of just sitting there watching it. And hopefully, they have a self-realization of where they’re at.”

But it wasn’t a complete meltdown for the Bruins.

Tripathi, who played his second consecutive match on court three after frequenting courts five and six, beat No. 93 William Mroz 6-4, 7-5 for his first ranked singles win in dual-match play.

Cassius Chinlund delivered the Bruins’ only other win Saturday, taking down Sasha Colleu 6-3, 6-3 despite a brief medical timeout for the Bruin redshirt freshman’s scrapped knee.

“I was going for a short draw volley, and I scraped my knee,” Chinlund said. “Happens occasionally. … Nothing major.”

But No. 34 Debru cemented the Bruins’ third loss in four matches when he took down van Loben Sels 7-6(4), 7-6(3) – about as close as a straight-set defeat can get.

Van Loben Sels apologized to Tripathi during an embrace after the match, seemingly shouldering Saturday’s outcome.

“Emon’s clutched up for us (a) countless amount of times,” Tripathi said. “I mean, this is not even on my mind at all, that he slipped up. If he’s in the same situation tomorrow, I have no doubt in my mind he will clutch up, because that’s just who he is.”

Is that rain or tears?

Tripathi and Ballotta, who both spent their entire collegiate careers at UCLA, could play their last match at LATC as Bruins on Sunday.

UCLA’s bout against No. 66 Northwestern (15-11, 3-8) will be its last home match of the regular season – with just two more affairs before the Big Ten Tournament in Ojai, California.

“These have been the best four years of my life,” Tripathi said. “Just not ready to let it go.”

Senior day festivities will be held between doubles and singles play, though Sunday’s 11 a.m. start could be pushed back because of rain, a UCLA Athletics spokesperson said.

Last season’s senior day, celebrating then-Bruins Alexander Hoogmartens and Giacomo Revelli, was canceled. However, Hoogmartens and Revelli have both made it back to LATC as spectators.

Hoogmartens, who has been seen at several of the Bruins’ matches this season, is in a graduate student program at UCLA, Martin said. Revelli, who visited Westwood and the team a couple weeks ago, is a graduate student at the University of Chicago.

With the coach – and likely the entire program – hoping for a different outcome this time around, Martin and the seniors’ teammates may have to balance celebrating those set to move on while still pushing to extend the season through May 17.

“Aadarsh, GL (Ballota), obviously, I’m pretty close to both of those guys,” Chinlund said. “I’ve known them for a long time, even before college. I was 15 or 16 when I met those guys, and we’ve always had a really fun. … It’ll be sad to see those guys go.”

When there’s a will, there’s a way

Will Steinberg, also a senior, was added to the Bruins’ roster just a couple months ago despite spending his entire academic career at UCLA.

And Steinberg has been trying to make the roster throughout his four years in Westwood.

“UCLA or bust,” Steinberg said. “There’s just no place like UCLA. I wanted to be on this team more than anything in my life. Honestly, I would wake up every single morning dreaming of the moment that I got that call to be on the team. I would literally visualize that while going to sleep.”

The senior said his dream to make a Division I men’s tennis roster solidified during the COVID-19 pandemic in high school, with joining UCLA’s team becoming his ultimate goal.

Steinberg added that he practiced at LATC nearly every day and sent his highlights and tournament results to UCLA’s coaching staff for three and a half years.

Then, during class, associate head coach Rikus de Villiers sent Steinberg a text.

“He said, ‘call me,’” Steinberg said. “Obviously, I just walked out of class and I picked up the phone, and he was like, ‘Hey, we want to see if you’re still interested in joining the roster.’ I was like, ‘Dude, what the heck are you talking about? Of course.’ … I was just zoned out, I was just so happy. And then, obviously, I went back into my two and a half hour lecture.”