Men's tennis meet ranked, Big Ten foes this weekend

IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal and the men’s tennis team will be host to its first Big Ten home competitions this weekend. No. 51 Michigan State will be traveling to Bloomington in order to compete Friday, and the No. 35 Michigan Wolverines will compete against the Hoosiers on Sunday.

All of the Hoosiers’ competitions so far this season have been indoor matches. This weekend, however, IU has a chance to play its first outdoors match. The matches are expected to be played on the outside courts at the IU Tennis Center, but they will not know for sure until the day of because it all depends on the weather.  

“It has to be above 50 for two out of the three hours we are supposed to play, and (the winds) have to be forecasted for 20 miles an hour or less,” Bloemendaal said. “We’re ready to be outside.”

Last weekend the Hoosiers went on the road to compete in conference play. Their first match was against Penn State in which they won 5-2. After their win against Penn State, they traveled to then-No. 5 Ohio State and lost 7-0. Bloemendaal contributes the win and the loss to his veteran players.

“Against Penn State, my seniors did a hell of a job that day just jumping on their opponents,” Bloemendaal said. “But as good a job as the seniors did against Penn State, I thought they did a horrible job against Ohio State.”

Michigan State is 7-9 overall and 3-4 on the road. The team was on a three-match losing streak before beating Wisconsin last weekend in East Lansing. MSU competed against Michigan on March 14 and lost by a 4-3 score.

The Wolverines are 7-7 overall and 2-5 on the road. They just came off of a three-match winning streak before losing to Minnesota last Sunday.

Since IU will be squaring off against Michigan State first, they can learn from the mistakes they make and build on the actions they did well in order to prepare for Michigan. Bloemendaal believes that winning against both teams is definitely an option for the Hoosiers.

“We are capable of winning both matches, and I don’t look at us as the underdog in either match,” he said.  

The 9-9 Hoosiers have played their best tennis at home this season, generating a 6-2 home record. IU has not lost a home match since Jan. 2, against the Oklahoma Sooners, who were ranked No. 8 in the nation at the time.

“Right now I’m focused on Michigan State,” Bloemendaal said. “I think they are well coached, but at the end of the day we really should be a little bit better.”