Various men’s tennis players competed in either South Bend, Indiana at Notre Dame, or Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the All-American Invitational this weekend for the Hoosiers.
Senior Matt McCoy got his first action of the fall season in South Bend for the Bobby Bayliss Invitiational as he competed in the top singles bracket.
He began with a straight-set victory against Davis Crocker of Michigan on Friday, and he picked up right where he left off Saturday morning with a win against Louisville sophomore George Headley. McCoy proceeded to drop his second match Saturday to Runhao Hua of Michigan before defeating another Big Ten opponent, Gabriel Nemeth from Penn State.
McCoy’s 3-1 record was impressive enough to earn an All-Tournament Team honor. McCoy, who also celebrated his birthday Sunday, gained valuable experience against Big Ten opponents he could potentially face during the winter season. Last winter season he finished 3-2 against conference foes.
Six other Hoosiers joined McCoy at the Bobby Bayliss Invitational, which included five other Big Ten teams: Illinois, Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan.
Senior Stefan Lugonjic and sophomore Afonso Salgado paired up to go 2-0 Friday with victories against Notre Dame and Marquette. On Sunday, however, a duo from Michigan denied them an undefeated run in their doubles bracket.
Sophomore Oliver Sec and freshman Zac Brodney also went 2-1 this weekend in doubles. They earned victories against two Marquette doubles teams and were defeated by Big Ten foe Wisconsin.
Freshmen Will Piekarsky and Payam Ahmadi split their two matches together.
They beat a Memphis pair and lost on the final day to Wisconsin.
The Hoosiers also got a lot of singles action this weekend.
Sec went 2-2 with wins against Notre Dame and Marquette, and sophomore Afonso Salgado bounced back from losses in the first three matches to close out the tournament with a victory against Wisconsin.
Freshman Zac Brodney earned a tough three-set victory against Notre Dame.
IU closed out the tournament Sunday with four singles victories by Sec, McCoy, Salgado and Piekarsky.
Junior Raheel Manji and sophomore Antonio Cembellin came up short in their efforts in Tulsa to bring home another doubles championship.
Cembellin’s quest for another title in singles and doubles ended quickly when he was defeated in the opening round Thursday.
In singles, he was ousted by Christian Seraphim of Wake Forest by a score of 3-6, 6-7.
After the match, he teamed up with Manji to take on a duo from Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech came away with a straight-set win, 7-6, 6-2.
The next time the Hoosiers will take the court will be Oct. 20 when they travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regionals.
