Vanderbilt snaps 5-game IU winning streak

IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal and the No. 30 men’s tennis team traveled to Nashville, Tenn., to compete against No. 33 Vanderbilt on Sunday. IU won five consecutive matches before this dual. However, Vanderbilt snapped the Hoosiers’ streak, winning 5-2.

Although IU walked away with the doubles point, the Commodores won all but one of the singles matches. Junior Dimitrije Tasic and freshman Chris Essick beat Vanderbilt’s Jeff Offerdahl and Anton Kovrigin with an 8-5 score. Senior Isade Juneau and freshman Sam Monette clinched the doubles point by defeating Marc Van der Merwe and No. 22 ranked Ryan Lipman.

IU’s second point came from senior Josh MacTaggart, who was the only Hoosier to win a singles match. MacTaggart defeated Offerdahl in three sets in his sixth consecutive singles victory. Monette squared up against No. 33 Gonzales Austin and lost in three sets. Although the Hoosiers duo of Juneau and Monette defeated Lipman in the doubles competition, he is still undefeated in singles matches this month. Lipman defeated Juneau in back-to-back sets.

After Sunday’s loss, IU has dropped to a .500 record at 6-6. Its next competition is at No. 41 Harvard on Saturday, March 2. The competition will start at 12 p.m.

— Frank Bonner