Men’s tennis to face SEC competition in ITA Kick-Off

The No. 23 IU men’s tennis team will compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kick-Off Weekend in Starkville, Miss., this weekend. There will be a total of 60 schools competing in 15 different locations.

Indiana will be participating in a dual match against No. 21 Auburn Saturday and will face either No. 13 Mississippi State or No. 25 LSU come Sunday.

The Hoosiers are seeded third behind Auburn and MSU. The Bulldogs have Malte Stroppe, ranked No. 81 , and freshman Romain Boagaerts, who is ranked No.25 in singles competition. Auburn will be bringing their best singles player No. 74 Andreas Mies.

Mies and his teammate Daniel Cochrane are anticipated to do well in this tournament as they came in ranked No. 2 in the nation in doubles competition.

Indiana’s veteran player senior Josh MacTaggart had a successful night against Wright State two days ago with a singles and doubles victory, and will be looking to keep that momentum going.

The Hoosiers started the season with a No. 22 ranking but lost their two first matches against North Carolina State and Kentucky before getting their first win against Wright State. Indiana’s overall record is 1-3 and will have a chance to reach the .500 mark this weekend.

Competition starts 11 a.m. Saturday for the Hoosiers against Auburn. LSU will be squaring off against Mississippi State Saturday afternoon.

The winners of each game will play each other in the championship match while the losing teams will play each other in a consolation match.

Both the championship and consolation matches will be held Sunday. The consolation match will start at 10 a.m. and the championship match is scheduled to start in the afternoon.

— Frank Bonner