All eyes were on court five Saturday evening at the IU Tennis Center. Freshman Antonio Cembellin was up against Nick Dykema from Marquette.
Senior Samuel Monnette, sophomore Raheel Manji and senior Chris Essick, who had finished their matches, led the cheers and claps after every point.
Soon after, Cembellin was celebrating winning his match in the third set. His first win of the spring season also clinched a 4-0 IU win against Marquette.
“I feel great, I was pretty happy to be able to help the team today,” Cembellin said. “I played three matches and two were unfinished, so I am pretty happy to help the team.”
The Hoosiers had a good Saturday as they won their double header against VCU and Marquette. IU beat both schools by a score of 4-0.
“It’s always nice to get the first win of the season,” IU Coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. “Overall, I’m very pleased and we did a better job than last week of taking care of a lot of the bigger points and winning some of the close games that can really turn a match.”
Victories from the doubles teams of Monette and senior Daniel Bednarczyk, and Manji and freshman Afonso Salgado gave the Hoosiers the doubles point against VCU.
Monette then beat Michal Voscek 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), and Bednarczyk beat Vitor Lima 6-1, 6-2 while junior Matthew McCoy beat Arvid Boren 6-2, 7-5 to give IU the three points it needed.
IU then returned to the tennis center at 6 p.m. to face Marquette. Monnette, Bednarczyk, Manji and Salgado got the doubles point for the Hoosiers again. Monnette and Bednarczyk won 6-4 against Daniel Fernandez and Alvaro Verdu while Salgado and Manji won 6-2 against Greg Anderson and Kristiyan Trukov.
Monette then got the Hoosiers the second point when he beat Fernandez 6-3, 6-2 on court one.
Manji, who was dominant against Trukov in court four, added the third point as he beat Trukov in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
“I felt good and worked on some things and definitely got better,” Manji said. “It’s nice to get the win for the team and move into next weekend with two 4-0 wins.”
Cembellin then rounded off the victory when he beat Dykema 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on court five.
The tennis center was loud Saturday night, something that does not usually happen at tennis matches but is loved by the Hoosiers.
“There’s nothing like playing at home, it’s the greatest,” Manji said. “Especially here in Indiana, the crowd is pretty rowdy and really enjoys the time with whoever that comes in. How can you not love to play in that situation?”
Cembellin, who is from Spain, spoke about the difference in the crowd atmosphere between Indiana and Spain.
“I’ve never felt so great,” Cembellin said. “Everyone was so loud. I love competition and I love to fight, and if you have supporters, you just love it even more and you can play better.”
