After a promising 2-0 start to the season, IU men’s tennis has dropped its first meet of the year in a Sunday morning loss at Dartmouth University.
IU Head Coach Jeremy Wurtzman said the team was prepared for the matchup and confident going in because it dominated University of Toledo and Ball State University last weekend en route to 7-0 victories.
“I thought they played extremely well in their first match of the year,” Wurtzman said. “Hats off to Dartmouth.”
The onslaught began from the opening match when Dartmouth seized the lead after winning the first match on the doubles courts. This allowed the Big Green to grab an early lead on the Hoosiers and never look back.
“They were fired up after winning the first doubles point, and that gave Dartmouth confidence going into singles,” Wurtzman said.
That confidence slowly transitioned into momentum for the Big Green as Dartmouth went on to sweep the other singles matches, winning 4-0.
Despite the lopsided score, Wurtzman didn’t think it was indicative of the actual match.
“We were pretty close for the entire match, but we didn’t get the points when we needed them,” Wurtzman said.
It sounds like an easy fix, but despite its confidence going into New Hampshire, IU will have to play coming off of a loss for the first time all season.
“We just have to use it as experience and learn from it,” Wurtzman said.
It was the team's first road trip of the season and the IU squad, six of which are freshmen or sophomores, didn’t know what to expect away from the friendly confines of Bloomington.
The Hoosiers will get away from the frozen tundra and travel to California on Friday to take on No. 7 UCLA. This is easily the team's toughest non-conference opponent of the season.
This isn’t just another year for UCLA, a premier tennis program that has remained ranked in the top 10 since March 2017. The school has 16 national championships in program history.
“Historically they are possibly the best program in the entire country,” Wurtzman said. “It’s great to have them on our schedule.”
More is at stake next weekend for two IU players, junior Zac Brodney and sophomore Brandon Lam, who are from the Los Angeles area.
While the Hoosiers will take on one of the best programs in the country, they will also face the winner between University of San Diego and University of Mississippi. Both teams are just outside the top 25 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, both receiving votes.
