IU loses against 2 ranked conference foes in road matches

The road was unkind to the IU men’s tennis team this weekend, who lost 7-0 to No. 17 Michigan and 4-3 to No. 41 Penn State. The losses marked the end of the regular season for the Hoosiers (14-11, 4-6), who finished the year 3-8 away from home and 1-4 in Big Ten road matches.\n“It was a typical Big Ten weekend; every match is going to be a battle,” IU coach Ken Hydinger said. “We fought hard in a tough environment and didn’t quite get the job done.”\nOn Saturday, IU’s 7-0 loss marked the third time this year that it was swept, losing all three doubles pro sets and all six singles matches on the day. \n“I give Michigan a lot of credit, they’re an overpowering team and it was hard for us to get control,” Hydinger said. “Our guys fought hard but we had trouble getting under it.”\nThe No. 4 ranked doubles tandem of Brian Hung and Matko Maravic took down IU juniors Thomas Richter and Dara McLoughlin at No. 1 doubles, 8-2. Next off the court, No. 45 Ryan Heller and Andrew Mezlin defeated senior David Bubenicek and sophomore Mak Kendall, 8-3 at No. 2, while George Navas and Mike Sroczynski followed suit at No. 3 by beating senior Arnaud Roussel and sophomore Peter Antons, 8-3. \nSingles wins at No. 4, 5 and 6, gave Michigan a 4-0 lead and the match. After dropping the first set 6-3, McLoughlin got ahead 4-1 at No. 3 against Heller, but he could not hold on, losing 6-3, 7-6 (2). \nAt No. 2, Bubenicek also played well in the second set, but had to retire from the match due to injury, losing 6-3, 2-3 to No. 44 Maravic. Richter showed another strong effort at No. 1, but came up short vs. No. 45 Hung, 6-4, 7-5.\nAgainst the Nittany Lions, losing the doubles point hurt the Hoosiers. After dropping the match at No. 2 doubles, IU fell in a tough 9-7 loss at No. 3. Meanwhile at No. 1, Richter and McLoughlin managed to upset the No. 51 pairing of Ryan Berger and Michael James, 8-6.\n“Peter and Arnaud fought hard, we were hoping to get the third doubles,” Hydinger said.\nIn singles, Penn State took a 3-0 advantage with wins against Kendall at No. 6 and McLoughlin at No. 3. In his last career regular season match, Roussel was victorious 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4, but the Nittany Lions sealed the match with a win against Antons at No. 5. \nWith the match decided, the top two Hoosiers players finished their regular season out on a good note. Richter upset No. 92 James 6-4, 7-5, while Bubenicek bounced back for a win in the final regular season match of his career, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 10-7. Combining his fall-tournament matches with this spring dual season, Bubenicek finished with a team-high 26 wins. \nIU finished tied for seventh place in the league \nwith Northwestern and will play either Michigan State, Iowa or \nPurdue on Thursday at the Big Ten championships in West Lafayette.