The IU men’s tennis team continues their slate of fall tournaments with a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regionals.
With the exception of three players, the rest of the roster will be traveling this weekend to the University of Tennessee. Coming off the heels of heavy-loaded tournaments last weekend at Tulsa and Notre Dame, the Hoosiers are confident they can build on their past success.
As the fall season continues and with the transition into winter, most matches will be played indoors. This is the case for the ITA Regionals this weekend. IU Coach Jeremy Wurtzman noted the importance of serves and returns as key for having success indoors.
“The focus has been on trying to be more aggressive with our ball and trying to play a little bigger and move forward,” Wurtzman said. “As well as a lot of serves and returns, as we go indoors at the regionals. It is very important that we are holding serve, as well as neutralizing or hitting great returns to help us break serves.”
The ITA Regionals features the top tennis players in the country, consisting of 8,000 student athletes competing at 85 different locations. The University of Tennessee is the site of the tournament and will feature IU and other teams from the Ohio Valley Region.
The Hoosiers will be without senior leader Matthew McCoy this weekend.
McCoy earned All-Tournament Team honors and displayed toughness and enthusiasm on his way to a 3-1 record at Notre Dame last weekend, and Wurtzman praised him for his efforts.
“He competed very well. He came with great intensity and had a lot of passion out on the court,” Wurtzman said. “He was fighting for everything and I felt like he was not only hitting the ball really well in tough, windy and cold conditions, he was engaged in competing every point and that really separated him from other players.”
Although McCoy’s teammates won’t be playing in the tough outdoor conditions he experienced, his leadership qualities are something that the Hoosiers hope to carry on without him.
Sophomore Antonio Cembellin and junior Raheel Manji are coming off a close doubles loss to one of the better teams in the country, Georgia Tech. One member of the Yellow Jacket doubles team is junior Christopher Eubanks. He won ACC Player of the Year last year and also competed in a professional tournament in August, the BB&T Atlanta Open.
Cembellin and Manji had a quality opportunity in the first set, but could not convert on the set point they had. Win or lose, Murray said that the match showed the two could play with anyone in the country, and they will be better fit for upcoming matches.
“It was a great opportunity to see one of the best teams play, doubles-wise,” IU assistant coach Mike Murray said. “I thought we really responded well and we carried ourselves like we belong there.”
