No. 23 IU falls on road to No. 25 LSU, No. 21 Auburn

The No. 23 IU men’s tennis team traveled to Starkville, Miss., to compete in the ITA Kick-Off this weekend. The Hoosiers competed against No. 21 Auburn on Saturday and lost 6-1. After falling short against Auburn, the Hoosiers lost to No. 25 LSU on Sunday by a 4-3 margin.

Freshman Elliot Yee was able to get a win for IU in singles play on Saturday. Yee beat Auburn’s Joseph Van Dooren at number six singles in three sets. Senior Josh MacTaggart found himself in a highly contested match against No. 74 Andreas Mies.

MacTaggart got down early, losing the first set. He was able to rally back in the second set winning 6-2 in order to force another set. However, MacTaggart was not able finish the comeback, as he lost in the third set 6-3.

Freshman Sam Monette found himself in a similar situation competing against Lukas Ollert. Monette got off to a bad start, losing 6-3 in the first set, but forced a third set by winning 6-4 in the second. Ollert defeated Monette 6-2 in the third set, giving Auburn another singles victory.

Junior Dimitrije Tasic started his singles match with a win in the first set winning 7-6 (3) against Dennis Lengsfeld. Lengsfeld ran away with the rest of the match, winning 6-2 in the second set and 6-1 in the third.

IU was unable to capture the doubles point, meaning Yee’s singles win was the only point scored by the Hoosiers in their loss to Auburn. After losing to Auburn, the Hoosiers competed against LSU in the consolation round.

IU was able to get one doubles win out of Tasic and freshman Chris Essick as they defeated the LSU duo in a 8-3 match. LSU still walked away with the doubles point because they won the other two doubles matches.

There were six singles matches total, and the Hoosiers were able to win three of them. MacTaggart defeated LSU’s Olivier Borsos in three sets. Senior Isade Juneau defeated Chris Simpson in two sets, winning 6-1 in the first and 6-4 in the second. Monette gave IU its third singles win by beating Stefan Szacinski in two sets, winning 6-1 in the first set and 6-4 in the second.

Tasic, Essick, and freshman Daniel Bednarczyk fell short of victory as they lost their singles competitions.

The Hoosiers have dropped to a 1-4 record after their two losses over the weekend. They will be granted with another chance to near the .500 mark Friday at home. Competition will start at 2 p.m. against Oklahoma and pick back up at 7 p.m. against IUPUI.