IU cruises past Toledo, Murray State

The men's tennis team improved to 4-0 with a pair of victories Saturday, beginning the day with a hard-fought 6-1 win against the Toledo Rockets and then following up with a 7-0 win against the Murray State Racers.\nIn the earlier match, the Hoosiers earned the doubles point with 8-2 and 8-3 wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Trailing 6-3, the No. 3 pairing of junior Mike McCarthy and senior Arnaud Roussel sent the pro set into a tiebreaker. A McCarthy ace made it 4-3, but it became 5-3 when Toledo was hit with a point penalty for an audible obscenity. Two points later, McCarthy closed out the match with an overhead winner.\n"The guy, he should have not said it," Roussel said. "That was really good for us."\nWith the singles sticks up, the Hoosiers and Rockets went back at it. At No. 1, 48th-ranked senior David Bubenicek was too much for Toledo's Jared Miller, winning 6-1, 6-1. At No. 2, junior Dara McLoughlin caught fire early, taking the first three games of the match without dropping a single point. Despite a shoulder injury sustained on Friday, the Ireland native outlasted his opponent 6-3, 6-1. \n"I was a little tentative at the start of the doubles because I was kind of afraid to play at a hundred percent, but after loosening up, I think I played one of the best singles matches I've played in a while," McLoughlin said. \nPerhaps the most impressive performance of the day was No. 3 singles player junior Thomas Richter. Coach Ken Hydinger acknowledged his improvement, but said Richter is "still a bit away from seeing his best tennis."\nMcCarthy, playing at No. 4 had an easy first set, but struggled in the second before finishing off his opponent 6-1, 7-6. Roussel, meanwhile, won 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5. In the longest match of the day, sophomore Peter Antons fell 7-6, 7-6 at No. 6.\n"This is his first year really being in the singles lineup; he doesn't have a lot of singles experience," Hydinger said of Antons. "He's really worked hard; he's improved his game, and his opportunity right now through these matches is to learn from each match."\nIn the second match, IU took down Murray State without dropping a set. The win moved the Hoosiers to 19-4 in the all-time series with the Racers.