Wait now over, Hoosiers look for an NCAA breakthrough

Grouped in a conference that features the likes of perennial tennis powerhouses Ohio State and Illinois, Indiana’s own tennis program has long been labeled a middling one, seemingly relegated to relative obscurity and the annual chase of the Big Ten’s top dogs.  

“A few years ago, I heard some of the SEC coaches tell me that they didn’t think Indiana would ever be a tennis school,” IU Head Coach Bloemendaal said.  

Bloemendaal and the Hoosiers he has recruited since his promotion to head coach in May 2007, though, have defied those doubters in recent years, as the program has risen to regional—and national—relevance, finding success in the form of three NCAA Tournament appearances, several weeks ranked in the ITA Top 25, and last year’s second-place finish in the Big Ten behind only Ohio State.  

Friday, IU will look to take the most significant step forward yet in its ongoing pursuit of the “tennis school” moniker, as it stands on the precipice of killing two birds which have eluded Bloemendaal’s cream and crimson squads with one stone: should the Hoosiers defeat Louisville in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Bloemendaal and the current crop of Hoosiers would earn both their first NCAA Tournament victory and their first triumph against Louisville.  

The No. 26 Hoosiers and No. 34 Cardinals, who have a rich, if one-sided, history since Bloemendaal’s ascension, are slated to collide on the courts Friday at noon in Lexington, Ky., at the regional hosted by the University of Kentucky.  The match will pit the two squads against one another for the sixth time in the last five years; each of those previous contests, including a 4-3 nail-biter in Bloomington in late March, have ended in the Cardinals’ favor.  

As Friday’s encounter marks Louisville’s fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the Cardinals will ostensibly hold an advantage in terms of postseason experience.  In comparison, IU’s selection to the competition last Tuesday was only its second straight, last year’s invitation having ended a two year absence from the bracket.  

A closer inspection at today’s showdown’s respective rosters, though, reveals that the opposite may be true; only one of the Hoosiers’ expected contributors, sophomore Dimitrije Tasic, will be making his NCAA debut, while no fewer than four freshman Cardinals will be tasting tournament action for the first time.

If the Hoosiers’ lineup chosen to face the Cardinals remains true to that employed by Bloemendaal in the late Big Ten regular season and conference tournament, the first five singles spots will be inhabited by upperclassmen.  Though IU’s trio of seniors, Jeremy Langer, Stephen Vogl, and Will Kendall, has all enjoyed moments of individual glory at different points throughout the year, it reaped little reward from its apparent experience advantage in the season’s earlier bout between the two squads.  Only Langer, who defeated German freshman Albert Wagner 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, emerged victorious in his singles encounter; Vogl lost to fellow senior Robert Hall 5-7, 5-7, while Kendall dropped the ultimately decisive contest, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, to freshman Floridian Luis Elizondo.  

In keeping with the mayhem of March’s match with the Cardinals, Bloemendaal said he expects Friday’s edition of the rivalry to be fraught with tension.  

“It’s going to be a heck of a first round matchup,” Bloemendaal said.  “If we get through here, I really think we’ve played a lot of big matches this year and a few top ten teams.  We haven’t quite come through, but I think the guys are ready to prove something.”

If IU breaks through against Louisville, it will advance to meet the winner of Friday’s later match in the Lexington regional between No. 6 Kentucky and Radford.  The Hoosiers lost on the road to the Wildcats 7-0 in a late January encounter whose score was not indicative of the nature of the battle; four of the singles matches, all of which were won by Kentucky, went to three sets.