IU men’s tennis wants to keep its momentum going against its strong opposition this weekend.
Last Sunday the Hoosiers showed good play when they upset a higher-ranked opponent. This weekend they seek to repeat it against a top-20 Ivy League opponent and their longtime rivals.
On Friday No. 37 IU will face the No. 18 Cornell Big Red at home, and on Sunday, IU will be host to rival Purdue again at the IU Tennis Center.
“It is going to be a very competitive weekend,” IU Coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. “Starting with Cornell, they have shown they are one of the best teams in the country. We know Purdue is also one of the best teams out there as well, they will be ranked very high very soon.”
Wurtzman said the Big Red are a team that has gotten a couple of new players but overall they are a side the Hoosiers know well.
In the past couple of seasons IU has split matches with Cornell. In 2015 the Hoosiers came up on top, 4-3, but in 2016 Cornell won, 4-3.
On one hand senior Matthew McCoy and junior Raheel Manji played at positions two and three last season against Cornell and won their matches in consecutive sets. On the other hand, sophomores Afonso Salgado and Antonio Cembellin lost at positions five and six, respectively.
However, the Cornell players that beat the sophomore IU players are not on the team’s roster anymore, and six new players have joined the team.
“We are still hungry, and really excited to get more opportunities to take down top teams and improve our ranking for NCAAs,” IU freshman Zac Brodney said.
Brodney also said the team is motivated after climbing up eight spots in the rankings after their upset victory against Washington and it is a signal that IU is on the right track.
Wurtzman said it is going to play to IU’s advantage to play Cornell earlier than usual on Friday, since they will have more time to recover for Purdue after the matchup.
In their past couple of encounters the Hoosiers and the Boilermakers also have split matchups. Purdue won, 4-1, last season and IU won, 4-0, in 2015.
So far this season Purdue is 9-5 overall and has won its two Big Ten matchups, one of them against No. 23 Illinois, who beat IU 5-2 in February.
The matchup with the Hoosiers will be the only one the Boilermakers will have during the weekend.
However, Wurtzman said it is important for IU to capitalize at home, since the matchups this weekend mark the midpoints of the season.
The matchup against the Big Red will be Friday at 3 p.m., and the matchup against the Boilermakers will be at noon Sunday, both at the IU Tennis Center.
“Any match we play the rest of the season, because of how many great teams we play, it is going to be an advantage to play at home,” Wurtzman said. “I think that will be a big key for us to try to play well in our own building.”
