Hoosiers to finish up fall season in Michigan

The fall season for the Hoosiers comes to a close this weekend as the Hoosiers will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., to participate in the Big Ten Singles Championships Saturday through Monday at the Varsity Tennis Center on the campus of University of Michigan. \nThe tournament, which is divided up into two brackets, consists of 78 players. The main draw has a total of 64 players, while the 7-9 draw has only 14 players, in which two players received byes. The Hoosiers were able to place a total of seven players into the tournament, including six into the main draw.\nThe players competing in the main draw are freshman David Bubenicek; sophomores Neil Kenner and John Stone; and juniors Tom Bagnato, Ryan McCarthy and No. 93 Ryan Recht. Sophomore Dymtro Ishtuganov will be playing in the other bracket.\nThis will be a good opportunity for the Hoosiers to get a gauge on how they compare to other Big Ten schools, Recht said.\n"All Big Ten schools will be there, and most of our schedule is comprised of Big Ten schools, and everybody is going to be seeded in this tournament," Recht said. "So we will (know) where the guys are going to rank among the Big Ten and can stack yourself up against all them and see where you rank and what you need to improve on until the actual season starts."\nGetting the experience in the fall season has been helpful for McCarthy (4-3), especially since he's been able to go from the qualifying bracket and into the main draw.\n"The fall season gives you a good chance to work on your game and get in shape," McCarthy said. "So when the season comes around, you have every aspect of your game ready. too."\nBesides the experience that can be picked up from playing in the fall tournaments, other things can be learned from playing in the tournaments, IU coach Ken Hydinger said.\n"Confidence, getting a feel for winning is vital," Hydinger said. "By either adversity or good things happening to them, I think picking up motivation to have success or to have more success is a valuable tool from the fall season."\nDespite coming out to start the season off ranked in the top 100, Recht is currently 0-2 after participating in only the Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championships and the ITA Midwest Regional Championships. He feels it is important to begin to show why he was ranked to start the season.\n"Coming from last year, I played (No.5) singles mostly and just the fact that I'm moving up and I'm ranked now is new territory for me," Recht said. "I want go out there and prove to everybody that I'm 93 in the country for a reason, and that it's just nice to be able to back that up and get a couple of wins."\nWith this tournament being strictly against Big Ten opponents, the Hoosiers will get a feel for where they stand in a league that appears to be strong at this point in the season.\n"There is going to be a good level of competition," Hydinger said. "So there won't be any easy matches."\n-- Contact staff writer Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu.