Hoosiers travel to Purdue for invitational

The preseason is simple: practice, practice and more practice. With the exception of a summer tournament here and there, men's tennis players are usually guided by routine in the weeks leading up to the season.\nThe IU men's tennis team gets a chance to shake off that routine for the first time this weekend at the Purdue Invitational in West Lafayette, which features players from Purdue, Butler, the University of Toledo and Xavier University, in addition to IU.\nFor the players, the Invitational serves as a way to get some much desired match experience.\n"It's an early tournament, so it allows us to get that first notch on the belt as a team and get some experience in competition," senior Ryan McCarthy said. "It's great for us to get out in the fall and get used to playing early."\nIU coach Ken Hydinger also understands the importance of the early tournament.\n"For us, we're barely into two weeks of challenge matches, so this tourney is just a way for guys to get some competitive time," he said. "We get to take a look at some of our players and new teams."\nThe players involved in the weekend's event include some new faces as well as some returning players from last year's squad. Perhaps most notable, however, is the lack of top players seniors Jakub Praibis and Ryan Recht, and junior John Stone, who had prior commitments earlier this week by the Icy Hot/ITA Men's Championships at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.\nThe space at the top usually filled by Praibis and company allow some younger players, including two highly-touted freshmen, Dara McLoughlin and Michael McCarthy, to get some experience at the college level. \n"Our new freshmen are excited to show everyone what they are made of," Stone said. "Everyone is anxious to get up there."\nWith the anxiety to see action comes the added pressure of playing against IU's eternal rival: Purdue. The players recognize the little added edge to matches in which the two schools square off.\n"We know there are other teams there," Stone said. "But when we play Purdue individually, we keep the rivalry going. We never want to lose to any Big Ten team, let alone Purdue."\nThe tournament draw, which was announced Thursday, is composed of five flights in singles and two in doubles. In the Gold Flight, junior Neil Kenner will square off against Evan West of Butler. Both Ryan McCarthy and sophomore David Bubenicek have first round matches in the Black Flight, and senior Tom Bagnato will play in the Gray Flight. McLoughlin has his match in the White flight, and Michael McCarthy will play in the Silver Flight. \nThe Hoosiers will also have teams in the two doubles flights. The first team, composed of junior Dmytro Ishtuganov and Bagnato, will play Butler's Scott Newmark and Parker Ross. The second team, made up of Kenner and McLoughlin, will face Brian Rager and Josh Moran of Toledo. \nThe tournament begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, with two rounds of singles and one round of doubles. The tournament continues at 9 a.m. Sunday with one round of singles and two rounds of doubles.\n-- Contact staff writer Eamonn Brennan at eabrenna@indiana.edu.