IU men’s tennis will look to start the season 2-0 for the fourth consecutive year when Memphis University comes to Bloomington on Friday. The match is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at the IU Tennis Center.
This will be the sixth time the two teams have met in the regular season. While the Hoosiers hold a 3-2 lead, Memphis has won the last two meetings, 4-1 in 2017 and 5-2 in 2018.
“Friday we know is going to be tough," IU head coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. "We're just going to take it match by match."
Though Memphis doesn’t appear on IU’s schedule regularly, Wurtzman said the team knows what to expect from the Tigers because the teams often face each other at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships in October. Three months ago, the teams split the four matches in Nashville, going 1-1 in both singles and doubles.
William Piekarsky was victorious in both of his matches. First, an 8-5 doubles win alongside Carson Haskins against Memphis’ Jan Pallares and Patrick Sydow, followed by a straight-set singles win over Marshall Sullivan.
IU’s pairing of Payam Ahmadi and Andrew Redding didn’t fare as well, losing 8-6 to Matt and James Story. And Zac Brodney lost in three sets to Jeremy Taylor.
The Hoosiers didn’t face Memphis’ top doubles team of David Stevenson and Oscar Cutting. The pair is ranked No. 21 in the nation.
Friday will be the dual-match opener for the Tigers. Memphis is coming off the LaLance Invite last weekend, going 18-6 in singles and 9-3 in doubles action against Middle Tennessee State University, Belmont University and Vanderbilt University.
Meanwhile, IU looks to follow up on its dominant 7-0 opener against Ball State University on Saturday, only losing one set in the nine matches.
The team's focus now shifts to Memphis.
“Right now we just need to rest up and then get through our practices, work on the things we need to work on,” Haskins said. “Hopefully we get a big crowd coming out for that match.”
