Undefeated IU downs NC State

The IU men's tennis team continued their undefeated streak Saturday afternoon, beating North Carolina State 7-0 to improve to 4-0 on the year.\n"This has been an awesome start for the team," interim coach Matthew Pledger said in a statement. "The guys work so hard in practice and it has really been paying off. They do anything that is asked of them, I can't say it enough how proud I am of them."\nThis is the fourth match this season the Hoosiers have won. They swept all three doubles matches. Senior Zach Held and sophomore Ryan Recht defeated R.J. Murray and Val Bamada 8-1 at the No. 1 doubles position. Freshman Viktor Libal and senior Petr Novotny played the No. 2 doubles position and defeated Jon Davis and Rehmam Esmail 8-4. The No. 3 duo of freshman John Stone and sophomore Jakub Praibis beat Will Shaw and Jirou Nakajima 8-4.\n"We have started off this season great," Praibis said in a press release. "The guys are feeling very confident and trust themselves more and more each match. Coach Pledger has done a great job with us. He can really relate with us since he was just recently a player himself."\nThe Hoosiers also took all six singles matches. Praibis played the No. 1 singles match against Murray. Praibis defeated Murray 6-3, 6-2. Libal played No. 2 and defeated Bamada, 6-4, 7-6. Novotny played No. 3 and defeated Shaw, 6-1, 6-1. Held defeated Rehmam Esmail, 6-3, 7-6 and Recht defeated Jon Davis, 6-3, 6-2. Sophomore Jullien Vulliez defeated Nakajima in the No. 6 position in three sets, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2.\n"Although it may seem that these are easy wins, they are not," Pledger said in a statement. "We are playing really good teams. These guys are just playing really good tennis. I am shocked that we came away with a 7-0 victory today."\nThe Hoosiers will return to their home courts Friday at 5:30 p.m. to take on Louisville. After that weekend homestand, the Hoosiers will begin an eight-match road trip against Northwestern in Evanston, Ill.