IU falls in 2nd round of Big Tens

In its last meeting with Michigan, the IU men’s tennis team was unable to muster a single set and lost 7-0.\n On Friday, just six days later, the No. 20 Wolverines eliminated the No. 67 Hoosiers from the Big Ten championships. \n“I give our guys a lot of credit,” IU coach Ken Hydinger said. “This team defeated us pretty good a week ago on their home court, but our guys came ready to play today. We raised the level of our game, the guys came together as a team and we played with focus and emotion.\nThe Wolverines earned the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3, 8-3 and 8-5. IU juniors Dara McLoughlin and Thomas Richter were leading Michigan’s eighth-ranked doubles team 7-6 and demonstrated the kind of fight that the Hoosiers were going to put up. \nIU showed improvement on each court, starting with sophomore Peter Antons who was the first one off the court, losing 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5, after losing to the same opponent 6-0, 6-2 the previous weekend.\nRichter tested then-No. 45 Brian Hung last time around before losing 6-4, 7-5 at the top position. This time, however, Richter knocked off the 48th-ranked Hung, 6-4, 6-4. \nMichigan extended the lead to 3-1 with a win at No. 4 against IU senior Arnaud Roussel, 6-3, 6-4. The match was then clinched 4-1, with a win at No. 2, but it took three sets for No. 49 Matko Maravic to defeat IU’s David Bubenicek, winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.\nWhen play was stopped, McLoughlin held a 3-6, 7-5, 3-1 over Andrew Mazlin at No. 3, while sophomore Mak Kendall was about to enter a third set at No. 6, having won the first 7-5 but dropping the second 6-4. IU finished the year 15-12 and will most likely be excluded from the NCAA tournament’s field of 64.\nIn other Big Ten tournament action, the second-seeded Wolverines advanced to the semifinals but were defeated 4-1 by third-seeded and ninth-ranked Illinois. In the finals, top seed and third-ranked Ohio State defeated the Fighting Illini 4-1 to win its second consecutive Big Ten championship.