Team sees highs, lows at Big Ten singles event

Junior John Stone finished his first-round match at the Big Ten Singles Championship Saturday a beaten man. Despite his consistently solid play, he still lost to Andres Osorio of \nMinnesota. \nTwo days later, Stone had stormed to the semifinals of the consolation round with an improbable string of matches that included a win over Wisconsin's No. 1 player in straight sets. At the end of the day, Stone's effort epitomized the kind of tournament it was for the IU men's tennis team -- steeped in both success and disappointment.\nIU coach Ken Hydinger described the team's tournament as a mixture of strong overall performance but a lack of wins because of tough losses.\n"Did we have all the results we wanted? Not quite," Hydinger said. "Did we play solid tennis? Yes we did."\nStone was the story of the tournament for IU. He lost his first-round match, and then won a series of matches in the consolation round with the biggest coming in the quarterfinals over Alex Kasarov, Wisconsin's No. 1 player, who had previously been upset in the first round. Stone went on to lose to Michigan's Steve Peretz in the consolation bracket's semifinal round, 6-3, 6-3. \n"I felt like I played really, really well this tournament," Stone said. "Even when I lost, I felt like I had played a good match, and then to beat a No. 1 player is a great feeling. That was my best match of the year."\nHydinger said Stone played solid tennis the whole weekend.\n"John played the best I've seen him play this weekend," he said. \nThe Hoosiers closed their fall schedule this weekend without the contributions of two notable absences -- No. 1 player senior Jakub Praibis and junior Neil Kenner. \n"Even missing two of our top guys, we felt like we could still have three players in the round of 16," Hydinger said. "We ended up only having one guy get there, but it was three-set losses in tough matches that stopped us."\nThat lone performance came from senior Ryan Recht, who advanced to the 16th round before losing to Minnesota's Avery Ticer, 6-4, 6-4. \n"Ryan played a good tournament. He beat the players that he should beat and didn't have any letdowns," Hydinger said. "He lost a tough match to Ticer to end his tournament, but it was a good one for Ryan."\nJunior Dmytro Ishtuganov, sophomore David Bubenicek and freshman Michael McCarthy all suffered losses in the consolation rounds of their tournaments. Ishtuganov fell to the No. 1 seeded player in the tournament, Andrew Formanczyk of Michigan State, in his first-round match. Bubenicek knocked off a No. 10 seed before falling, and freshman Michael McCarthy added a win to his fall record before losing his second-round consolation match. \n"I really feel like I could've done better in this tournament," McCarthy said. "I've had a good fall though, even though the adjustment to this level is so big. I still have to get used to the atmosphere that comes with this level of tennis."\nMcCarthy's 9-3 fall record was part of the strong development the Hoosiers went through in preparation of their spring dual schedule. Hydinger said that the team was close to the level necessary to win Big Ten dual matches.\n"We're at a point now where we feel like we can go into the spring season and develop further," Hydinger said. "We wanted to improve this fall and get ready, and we have done that."\n-- Contact staff writer Eamonn Brennan at eabrenna@indiana.edu.