Hoosiers defeat NC State, IUPUI

The No. 46 IU men’s tennis team won both matches of a season-opening home doubleheader Saturday.

The team beat No. 57 North Carolina State 5-2 before sweeping IU-Purdue University Indianapolis 7-0.

The Hoosiers looked to be in trouble against N.C. State, losing the doubles point and the No. 1 singles match before reeling off five consecutive singles wins to close the match.

Junior Jeremy Langer acquired the lone singles loss for IU, falling 6-4, 6-2 to Jaime Pulgar, the No. 61 singles player in the nation. However, two IU players picked up wins against ranked opponents in the match.

After Langer lost, sophomore Josh MacTaggart took down fellow England native No. 82 Dominic Hodgson at No. 2 singles.

“Coach gave me a few tips on what to do, and I’ve seen him a few times, so I knew I had to go after him a bit rather than just play more defense, and it worked pretty well,” MacTaggart said.

Senior Santiago Gruter picked up a straight-set win against No. 106 Dave Thomson, while sophomore Isade Juneau won a three-setter, setting the stage for junior Stephen Vogl to win the clinching point for the Hoosiers.

Vogl’s teammates, who had finished their matches, wandered toward his court and joined the home fans in cheering Vogl on as he closed out his match 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

“I love the atmosphere, kind of getting myself pumped up from the crowd, using it to my own advantage,” Vogl said. “You could tell the guy I was playing was getting pretty tight because everyone was pumped up. It’s just a good atmosphere, good experience to try to break his pride and get the winning point.”

–Daniel Allar