After its narrow weekend victory against Princeton, IU now has six wins in a row and is still undefeated this season.
However, this Wednesday the Hoosiers will be matching up against an opponent that has gotten the best of them in past seasons.
In its fifth straight home matchup, a 6-0 IU squad will take on the 4-2 Louisville Cardinals.
This will be the last nonconference opponent the Hoosiers will face prior to their Big Ten opener Friday.
“We know Louisville well,” IU Coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. “They are in our region, and we did not play them last year, but we have seen them a lot, and we know they are a very competitive, greedy team.”
In 2015, the Hoosiers went on the road and were defeated 5-0 by the Cardinals in Louisville, Kentucky.
Senior Stefan Lugonjic was part of the IU roster then and lost at No. 6 singles. So far this season, he has been a common face at position two doubles alongside sophomore Antonio Cembellin.
In six matches played, the Hoosiers have not lost the doubles point once.
The point for doubles in each match is won by whichever team wins the most of the three doubles matches, and IU has won either two of three or all three doubles battles in each of its matches this season. Lugonjic and Cembellin have only come short once in doubles play against Princeton.
Then-freshman Raheel Manji played in both doubles and singles against Louisville in 2015 and was only able to come out on top in his doubles match while dropping his singles match in straight sets.
Manji, now a junior, had a standout performance against the Tigers during the weekend and said the Hoosiers will not have it easy against the Cardinals.
However, playing Louisville at home does give IU an advantage.
“It is going to help, they are going to have to get used to our building which is tough,” Manji said. “Especially when we get the crowd out, and when the crowd is going, our team is really pumped up and energized for that. It is going to be very tough for them to step in and try to control us.”
Furthermore, Manji said the win against Princeton gave him and the team a lot of confidence for upcoming matchups this season.
The matchup against the Cardinals will be the last chance Wurtzman will get to fix things and adjust his lineup prior to IU’s Big Ten contest at No. 17 Illinois on Friday.
“We will look at a few things,” Wurtzman said. “But we like what we are seeing from the guys, we might change a few things, but we will see when the match comes.”
The Hoosiers will be playing the Cardinals at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the IU Tennis Center. This will be IU’s first mid-week match of the season and the first against an ACC opponent.
“Stay together, and we have done a great job of it,” Manji said of the keys to come out on top Wednesday. “But continue to stay together, continue to get hungry and being hungry. We have been staying calm under pressure, and we have come through like that, so I think this will be key against Louisville.”
