Team rides wave of home support to beat Louisville

When Hoosier fans think home court advantage, they think Assembly Hall -- not the IU Tennis Center.\nHowever, the men's tennis team rode an unusual wave of raucous home fan energy Saturday on their way to topping No. 26 Louisville, 5-2, at the Tennis Center. The win gave the Hoosiers their first win over a top-30 team in more than a year and improved the team's spring record to 3-4 overall. \nCoach Ken Hydinger was very pleased with the win.\n"I am proud of that team," he said. "We really clicked on all six singles and all three doubles. After this past weekend, when we played hard and came up just short to tough teams, our record doesn't indicate what kind of team we are. We brought the goods home tonight."\nThe doubles point provided a key win early in the evening for the Hoosiers. Freshmen Michael McCarthy and Dara McLoughlin stumbled at the No. 3 spot, but the No. 1 team of John Stone and Ryan Recht responded with a win to level the tally. The No. 2 team of Jakub Praibis and Dmytro Ishtuganov faced a tiebreak with their match at 8-8, but they went on to win seven straight points to secure the doubles point for IU.\n"I think that Louisville had the best doubles teams that we have seen all season," Hydinger said.\nMcCarthy agreed that doubles set the tone for the evening.\n"We came out pumped up and fought every point in doubles," McCarthy said. "It was good to take that momentum with us into the rest of the night."\nThe rest of the night was characterized mostly by, quick Hoosier wins. Praibis continued his strong spring by defeating another ranked player, No. 124 Damar Johnson, at the No. 1 spot, 6-3, 6-1. Johnson is the fourth ranked opponent Praibis has beaten this spring, giving him a 6-1 singles record. \n"In singles, everything was on," Praibis said. "This kind of win should let us see that we are capable of winning against such teams."\nAfter Praibis' decisive victory, the next point was awarded to David Bubenicek, who also handily defeated his opponent, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 5 spot. Bubenicek quietly has improved his singles record to 4-1 in the spring. McCarthy clinched the match for IU with a 6-4, 6-2 win at the No. 3 position. Stone captured the fifth point for the Hoosiers at the No. 6 spot.\n"Sometimes winning and losing is out of your hands," Hydinger said. "If they would have had Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer at 1, 2 and 3, we wouldn't have won today. You can't control everything. This team is doing well focusing on the things we can control and doing what we need to do to win."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Eamonn Brennan at eabrenna@indiana.edu.