Team drops match, coach remains pleased

The IU men's tennis team (5-2) lost a hard fought match 4-3 to Vanderbilt Sunday at the Indiana Tennis Center. \nFirst, the Hoosiers lost the doubles point, dropping all three matches to Vanderbilt (3-0). Then, they lost three out of six singles matches to spell defeat. The match went down to the wire, and IU gave maximum effort all day. That effort pleased coach Ken Hydinger. \n"It was a good tennis match," Hydinger said. "It was hard, but that's part of competing."\nAt No. 1 doubles, senior Milan Rakvica and junior Zach Held lost 8-5. Senior Rahman Smiley normally plays No. 1 doubles, but he was out with a bad back. Smiley normally plays No. 2 singles, as well, so freshman Jakub Praibis filled in at No. 2, and freshman Juliun Vulliez played his first match as a Hoosier at No. 5. \nFive out of the six singles matches went the full three sets. The only match that didn't go three sets was won by freshman Ryan Recht. One of the three-set matches was won by Rakvica at No. 1 singles 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 over the Commodores' Bobby Reynolds. Rakvica has 85 all-time singles victories at IU, good for seventh place. He improved to 6-1 in spring singles and 12-5 overall. \nAlso playing well for the Hoosiers were Praibis and Recht. Praibis was victorious 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, and Recht won 6-4, 7-6. Praibis is 6-1, and Recht is 6-10 in the spring. \nHydinger was content with the play of his freshmen, but he was more impressed with Rakvica's play. Hydinger's evaluation of Rakvica's play was simple. \n"Isn't he nice to watch play?" Hydinger asked. \nHydinger said Rakvica plays constant, and the opponent he played was very good.\nAlthough Held lost, he ran down a lot of balls and came up with some good returns. Hydinger said his emotional level was good, too. \nHeld dropped to 3-3 in spring singles and 9-9 overall. He was extremely proud after the long match. \n"We fought really hard," he said. "I kept believing that I could win."\nHydinger said he was happy with his team's effort and its demeanor on the court. In fact, he said, he wasn't unhappy about anything. \nRakvica agreed with his coach. \n"We never gave up," Rakvica said. "We just couldn't hold on. Everybody showed their heart; it was bad luck at the end"