Hoosiers bounce back against Brown

A road trip to Indiana proved difficult for the Brown University Bears.\nEntering the Hoosier state 3-0, Brown leaves with a 3-3 record after suffering losses to Indiana State and Purdue over the weekend, and IU Monday afternoon. \nClosing out a road trip of their own over the weekend and playing their third match in the past five days, the Hoosiers were glad to be in familiar territory and made the most of it. \nStarting out a little slow, IU struggled through the round of doubles play. After splitting with a win at No. 1 and a loss at No. 3 -- their first loss of the season -- the No. 2 doubles team of seniors Ian Arons and Milan Rakvica pulled through for the Hoosiers and helped them to claim their first point of the night. \nThis would set a trend for the rest of the match. \nMatch-by-match, the Hoosiers claimed each point, sweeping the Bears. But not all of the matches came easily. \nAt No. 3 singles senior Paul Jacobson was looking to get back into the win column Monday night after having his eight-match winning streak broken Saturday at Minnesota. Jacobson got off to a hot start jumping out to a 5-0 lead. Then he hit the wall, dropping the next four sets.\n"After all the traveling, it was hard not to run into some mental and physical fatigue," Jacobson said. "It was really difficult to concentrate mentally."\nDespite the fatigue, Jacobson pulled together closing out the first set 6-4 and then claiming the second 6-3. \nRolling quickly through the first set, junior Rahman Smiley, playing at No. 4 singles, found the situation flipped in the second set. Smiley dropped the second set 3-6, but was able to get back on track and posted a 6-2 third set victory.\n"After the first set, I just lost my concentration," Smiley said. "We played a lot of tennis the past five days, and it was hard to concentrate. But the guys did a good job of fighting and pulling through to get this win."\nSmiley was happy to get the win, but said his body was telling a different story after days of traveling. "My body is not too happy right now," Smiley said. "I think all the time on the buses and in the planes is what is hurting the most right now. I just wasn't able to come in with as much energy tonight."\nRakvica struggled through the longest match -- No. 1 singles -- of the day finally closing out with the win in two long sets. The youth at the bottom of the lineup also pulled through for the Hoosiers as junior Zach Held and freshman Bernard Tsepelman both came away victorious. Arons, playing at No. 2, closed out the scoring for IU with a third set win.\n"I thought we did a really good job with our singles," coach Ken Hydinger said. "No. 2 and 3 doubles could have played with a little more emotion, but they all played hard. Coming off of the road trip, this was a good win for us. Brown is a good, solid team"