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Twins playing college tennis is certainly not unusual. The Bryans made their mark on Stanford and the Thompsons at Notre Dame, just to name two. What is out of the ordinary is twins playing for the same school, but not on the same team.

Melissa and Tim Kopinski, who turned 22 on June 3rd, just finished four strong years on the University of Illinois' women's and men's teams, respectively. Each made huge contributions to the Fighting Illini.

Tim Kopinski started out strong, with 25 singles and 22 doubles wins in his freshman year. He was instrumental in big Illini wins - including the streak-breaking 2012 Big Ten Championships - and has picked up honors throughout the years as an ITA Scholar Athlete, Big Ten Athlete of the Week, and Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree. He also won the team's Chris Martin Spirit Award and qualified three out of four times for the NCAA Doubles Championships with constant partner Ross Guignon.

In Tim's senior year he was named the ITA Midwest Senior Player of the Year and also the region's ITA/Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership designee.

It appears that a birthday is not all the Kopinskis have in common as Melissa also garnered the sportsmanship recognition from both the Big Ten and the ITA. She also picked up the same team Strength and Conditioning Award her brother did, as well as All-American status after advancing to the 2013 NCAA Championships quarterfinals with partner Rachael White. They became the first All-Americans for the Illinois women since 1993. During her time on the team, she also picked up record-matching and breaking wins.

The Kopinskis have now completed their four years of eligibility and are just about done with their degrees. They sat down to talk about how they ended up playing for the Illini and what's next for them.

Questions and Answers

Marcia Frost (MF): Did you plan on going to the same college?

Melissa Kopinski (MK): We never planned on going to the same schools. I would say it was toward the signing day, toward that week, really. I said, 'I like Illinois.'