The end of another weekend marks two more losses for the IU men’s tennis team, now 4-6 overall.
These defeats came at the hands of Drake University and Utah State University in Des Moines, Iowa over the weekend. The Hoosiers were outscored 1-4 in both matches.
In the first match of the weekend, Drake climbed to an early 3-0 lead and never looked back. IU’s lone point was won by freshman Carson Haskins in his singles match.
In an eerily similar match the very next day, IU fell into an early hole, trailing Utah State 3-0 from the start. Senior Antonio Cembellin won his match at No. 1 singles to give IU its only point of the day.
The pair of losses puts the Hoosiers below .500 for the first time all season after a promising start to the 2019 campaign that many thought would bolster the team's NCAA tournament hopes.
Regardless of the hard truth that they have a losing record, the Hoosiers have to focus on their upcoming Big Ten schedule which begins next weekend. It’s only fitting that IU’s first Big Ten match of the season comes against in-state rival Purdue on Saturday afternoon.
While this will be the first real conference test of the season for IU, Purdue has the edge in experience as they already played a Big Ten foe in Northwestern last weekend.
The Boilermakers currently sit at 4-3 on the season having played three fewer matches than IU has.
Both teams have also struggled against common opponents. While IU lost to Drake 4-1 this weekend, Purdue also fell to the Bulldogs 4-2 back in January.
Just like IU, Purdue comes to Bloomington in search of a win amid a current two-match skid of its own after losing to Northwestern and University of Louisville this weekend.
One way or another, one team will break its losing streak at 3 p.m. next Saturday at the IU Tennis Center.
