Hoosiers open play in Florida

With cloudy skies and snow on the ground on campus, the men’s tennis team is enjoying the crashing of waves during its Florida Gulf Coast Tournament.

Starting the weeklong tournament off with a round-robin-style play against Florida Golf Coast University, IU coach Randy Bloemendaal said his young team has played well in the early part of the tournament.

“They’ve looked a little bit rusty, which is to be expected this time of year,” Bloemendaal said. “But overall, they’re working hard and the results have been very good.”

With tournament play in the afternoon, running and footwork drills are part of the early morning regimen to increase the team’s endurance.

“It’s not as good as the level that I like to have it at, but it’s better than our competition at the moment,” Bloemendaal said. “They’re able to survive with it, but we’ve got to get better.”

With the level of competition increasing with No. 45 Louisville in the mix, Bloemendaal knows endurance is only one of the challenges that lie ahead for the No. 44 Hoosiers .
Bloemendaal’s expectations for the team are for them to get better every day.

“It’s not any one result,” Bloemendaal said. “It’s just that we continue to improve in a lot of different aspects. I don’t think anybody’s going to have this outstanding tournament here. I do think that by the end of the week the guys will be 25 to 30 percent better than at the start of the week.”