The IU men’s tennis team gained some much needed experience this weekend as it opened up its season in West Lafayette, Indiana, at the Purdue Fall Invitational. Senior Stefan Lugonjic was joined by freshmen Zac Brodney, Payam Ahmadi and Will Piekarsky.
The Hoosiers combined for a 4-8 record in singles and 1-5 record in doubles. Lugonjic started off his senior campaign strong and advanced to the semifinals of the singles tournament.
Lugonjic started out the tournament by winning two hard fought three-set matches against Southern Illinois’ Wilder Pimentel and Olivet’s Oscar Cornella. He dropped his semifinal match against Purdue’s Athell Bennett, 3-6, 6-7.
Piekarsky also started off the tournament with a victory against Toledo’s Luka Vitosevic, 6-3, 6-4. He then dropped his final two matches against Purdue’s Renan Hanayama and Ball State’s Pat Downs.
Brodney suffered a first round defeat to Ball State senior Lucas Andersen, a former standout from Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Indiana. Brodney bounced back with a three-set victory against Depaul’s Fran Tonejc.
He dropped his final match of the singles tournament to Wright State’s Jacob Perkins in another long three-setter.
Ahmadi dropped his first match against Ball State sophomore Nemanja Guzina, who advanced to the championship match against Ball State’s Andersen. Ahmadi suffered two more losses to Purdue’s Carlos Macias and Marquette’s Brandon Shanklin.
The Hoosiers did not fare well in the weekend’s doubles tournament. Lugonjic and Ahmadi paired up to go 0-3, with losses to Butler, Purdue and Cardinal Stritch.
The freshman tandem of Piekarsky and Brodney started off with a 6-3 victory against Wright State and dropped the final two matches against Southern Illinois and Cardinal Stritch.
IU travels to Tulsa, Oklahoma, next weekend for the All American Invitation.
Zach Wisen
