Almost everything had gone wrong for the Indiana men’s tennis team by late Sunday afternoon.
The Hoosiers were down two rotational players due to injury and illness, and they just suffered their fourth consecutive loss of the season, coming in the form of a three-and-a-half-hour barn burner against Butler University.
Multiple singles matches went into three sets that each eclipsed the two-hour mark. The team was mentally and physically fatigued but had to face its second opponent of the doubleheader just 90 minutes after the first match concluded.
It wouldn’t have taken much to let up and accept another defeat. But the Hoosiers flipped a switch.
“Right before the second match, we said that this could go one of two ways,” head coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. “We could either feel sorry for ourselves, or we could play as a team, have high energy and show a lot of character after losing a tough match.”
Indiana ended the day with a 4-0 win against Xavier University in a match that healed nearly every wound that surfaced against Butler.
In the first match of the day, the Bulldogs snagged the doubles point after wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. In what has been a common theme for the Hoosiers’ losses this season, the deciding match came down to the wire. The Indiana duo of senior Mac Rogers and sophomore Jagger Saylor was ultimately bested in a score of 7-5.
The pairing of Rogers and Saylor was part of a last-minute lineup shuffle after senior Vikash Singh, who usually plays at No. 1 doubles and No. 5 singles, was ruled unavailable due to illness. Sophomore Nishanth Basavareddy also stepped in to play singles at the No. 6 position.
However, despite their loss to Butler, Rogers and Saylor played a key part in the victory against Xavier. They grabbed the first doubles win with a 6-2 defeat over Xavier freshman Charlie Temming and sophomore Pascal Mosberger, helping Indiana get on the board first with the highly coveted doubles point.
Wurtzman credited the first point of the game as being the biggest difference in play from the Butler to Xavier matches.
“(The first match) put us behind and made everyone a little bit nervous,” Wurtzman said. “Later this afternoon, we won the doubles point fairly easily, and that kind of transferred over to singles.”
Senior Carson Haskins, who has played at the Hoosiers’ top spot in all but one match this year, got off to a strong start against Butler senior Thomas Brennan, winning the first set 7-6 after a tiebreaker. However, Brennan came back to outlast Haskins 6-2, 6-4, in the last two sets to win the match.
Haskins’ match was one of three that went into a third set against the Bulldogs, with No. 3 sophomore Ilya Tiraspolsky and No. 6 Basavareddy claiming the others. The loss at No. 1 gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead, and the sequential defeat of Basavareddy sealed them a 4-2 win. Tiraspolsky’s match was left unfinished at 6-7, 6-4, 6-5.
Despite a grueling singles showing in the morning, Indiana responded by dominating Xavier. Tiraspolsky defeated Xavier freshman Ryan Cahill 6-1, 6-3. Senior Patrick Fletchall handled graduate student Brett Winters 6-2, 6-2. Senior Luka Vukovic notched the final win of the day against sophomore Pascal Mosberger with a score of 6-4, 6-3.
Haskins also showed major improvements in his second singles match, even though it was left unfinished at 7-6, 3-3. The senior captain credited his ability to play through fatigue and finish close points with years of experience playing at a high level.
“With my style of play, my matches tend to last a little bit longer than most people’s, so I’ve gotten used to it at this point,” Haskins said. “It comes down to how hard you can fight mentally.”
Haskins said he is happy with how he has played so far this season while keeping an unselfish mindset.
“The goal is to win for the team,” Haskins said. “If you have that on your mind constantly, you can really do anything.”
Indiana will look to build a winning streak as they travel to Louisville, Kentucky, to face the University of Louisville in its first road match on Feb. 26.
