Road wins could bolster IU's tournament chances

After beating Penn State last Sunday, the No. 59 IU men’s tennis team has two more chances to bolster its NCAA tournament chances against No. 49 Michigan and Michigan State.

Sunday marked what IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal called a breakthrough for IU and could serve as a starting point for a postseason run.

“We have been playing well, but now we’re coming off a little bit of confidence after Sunday’s win,” Bloemendaal said. “I think we’re in a good position for the guys to win a lot in a row.”

IU is 3-6 and tied for eighth in the Big Ten. Michigan State is also 3-6, while Michigan is 4-5. This weekend could have a large effect on Big Ten Tournament seeding and potential postseason berths.

“It’s good prep for what’s to come,” Bloemendaal said. “In the postseason you lose and you’re out, and I think we’re getting into that a week ahead of time, or maybe two weeks ahead of time.”

Bloemendaal said his team will need to play better than it did Sunday against Penn State to leave Michigan with two wins.

“I feel like on the road, you need to be 10 to 15 percent better than your opponent,” Bloemendaal said. “To be 10 to 15 percent better, I feel like we have to be better than we were on Sunday. That’s what we’ve been working on this week.”

On paper, Michigan appears the more difficult match.

The Wolverines are ranked 10 spots higher than IU, have a singles player ranked a spot higher than IU sophomore Samuel Monette and have a doubles team ranked 28 spots higher than Monette and sophomore Daniel Bednarczyk.

Despite the Hoosiers looking the weaker team on paper, Bloemendaal said the numbers do not fully tell the story of this match.

“At this point in the season, Michigan’s a little bit shaky with their confidence,” Bloemendaal said. “They’ve been knocked back a little bit further than we have in the last month.

“If we can continue to compete the way we’re competing, our confidence should be higher match to match.”

Though Michigan State’s overall record of 9-13 may appear unimpressive, its home record of 8-1 is what makes this match a difficult one, Bloemendaal said.

Michigan State’s one loss at home was against No. 1 Ohio State, a team that has not lost in the Big Ten this season.

IU won April 6 at Iowa, and Bloemendaal said IU was in a great position to win April 9 at Purdue. Those were IU’s last two road matches before this weekend.

“The first time is the hardest,” Bloemendaal said. “I’m not saying that the next ones won’t be hard, because they will be. When the pressure hits everything evens out and now we’ve done it against a higher ranked team.

“This team is talented, but we haven’t been playing that well. We’re talking a lot about what we need to do in order to compete hard in every match and let the tennis take care of itself.”