Hoosiers invite pair of opponents for weekend

After coming from behind to defeat Middle Tennessee State University Jan. 24 in Murfreesboro, Tenn. 4-3, the No. 51 Hoosiers enjoyed a week off from action and return this weekend to face a pair of opponents. The Hoosiers first meet up with Indiana State University 12 p.m. Saturday and then play at 11 a.m. Sunday against Murray State, with both matches being held at the IU Tennis Center.\nHaving a week off between matches can sometimes work against a team rather than for it, but junior Tom Bagnato feels it was helpful for the Hoosiers.\n"In this case, I think it was an advantage," Bagnato said. "Some of us players were banged up, so it was pretty fortunate for us to have a week off to heal up and rest up for our weekend matches."\nFor the ISU Sycamores, this will be their first regular season match of the year. The Sycamores recently participated in the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Tennis Individual Championships on Jan. 31. They were able to compile a record of 2-3 in singles play and have one of their doubles teams advance to the semifinal round.\nThe Hoosiers' other opponent for the weekend, the Murray State Racers, has struggled out of the gate so far with a record of 0-2. One of those losses was against Vanderbilt, which is ranked No. 4 in the country.\nUsually getting the opportunity to play against a former school can make a match more intense than usual, but this is not the case for sophomore Dmytro Ishtuganov, who played for the Sycamores last year.\n"They are almost a totally new team from last year," Ishtuganov said. "So for me it will be about 98 percent a usual match."\nFor the Hoosiers, this will mark the first time of many this season in which they will play matches on back-to-back days, and the Hoosiers are welcoming the challenge, said Bagnato.\n"It's more challenging," Bagnato said. "In your second match, you could be sore or hurt or just mentally fatigued, you definitely have to concentrate twice as much and try twice as hard."\nThough the season is still relatively young for Hoosiers, this will be a good test for later in the season, Ishtuganov said. \n"We are still coming into season, and these matches will be both against teams which are unranked nationally," Ishtuganov said. "This will give us a good preparation for our tougher matches later on in the season."\nThough both Indiana State and Murray State are unranked, it doesn't mean the Hoosiers are looking beyond this weekend, IU coach Ken Hydinger said.\n"Indiana State will build this up in their mind as a chance to knock off the bigger in-state foe," Hydinger said. "They (Murray State) have nothing to lose coming up here; an Ohio Valley Conference team beats a Big Ten team, and it would be big."\n-- Contact staff writer Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu.