Doubles duo fall in sweet sixteen

Despite a strong performance from one doubles pair, the men's tennis team returned home early this weekend disappointed after being eliminated from regional action. The team competed in the ITA/Omni Hotels Midwest Regional Championships held in Madison, Wis. \nCoach Ken Hydinger said he was proud of the team's efforts, but said the squad fell short at important times.\nThe Hoosiers singles teams were eliminated in the first two days of competition. The remaining two players were ousted from the tournament Tuesday as sophomore Jullien Vulliez lost to Michigan State's Cameron Marshall, 6-4, 6-2 and sophomore Tom Bagnato lost to Dipesh Rao of the University of Toledo, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4. \nIn doubles action for IU, the pair of freshman Viktor Libal and sophomore Jakub Praibis were eliminated by Minnesota's Aleksey Zharinov and Chris Wettengel by a score of 8-5. \nOne positive for the Hoosiers during the weekend was the doubles team of sophomore Ryan Recht and freshman John Stone. The tournament started with 64 different teams and Recht and Stone outlasted 48 of them, advancing to the round of 16. \nIn the first round, Recht and Stone defeated Iowa's Hunter Skogman and Tres Jones, 8-2. In the round of 32, the doubles team squeaked past the Wisconsin-Green Bay team of Jarrett Cascino and Ben Davis, 9-8 (9) before losing to Northern Illinois's Erick Martinez and Juan Pablo Barriga, 8-3. \nRecht down played the loss and noted that the team didn't face many of their conference rivals and main competitors.\n"(Northern Illinois) jumped on us on an off-day," Recht said. "The only Big Ten team we played was Iowa."\nAlthough the team was disappointed with its performance, they still have one more chance in the fall season. The Hoosiers travel to Minneapolis to compete in the Big Ten Singles Championships from Nov. 16 to 18.. The team then has a two month break from competitive play as they do not return to action until January to take on Murray State.