The Indiana men’s tennis team lost two matches this weekend by scores of 1-6 against East Tennessee State University on Friday and 0-4 against Middle Tennessee State University on Sunday.
The Hoosiers came out on Friday hoping to rebound from their first loss of the season, but the match against ETSU was nearly a carbon copy of their previous match against Princeton University.
The doubles point once again came down to the very last match, this time at the No. 2 spot. Indiana sophomore Ilya Tiraspolsky and junior Luka Vukovic went head-to-head against sophomore Dimitri Badra and freshman Francisco Lamas, but ultimately fell 5-7.
The No. 3 pairing of senior Patrick Fletchall and sophomore Jagger Saylor, who made his season debut Friday, also came up short in a close 4-6 match. Seniors Carson Haskins and Vikash Singh were the lone doubles victors for the Hoosiers after a convincing 6-1 win at the No. 1 spot.
Indiana head coach Jeremy Wurtzman said losing the doubles point, especially when the team came so close to securing it, negatively affected the team’s mindset going into the singles matches.
The Hoosiers were not able to recover against ETSU, dropping five of the ensuing six singles matches. Vukovic notched the Hoosiers’ only point of the evening with an exciting 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 win at the No. 4 position against graduate student Hugo Lobo. Still, the Buccaneers routed the Hoosiers at the No. 2, 3 and 6 singles spots to ensure their victory.
While Friday’s loss was disappointing, it was by no means a poor showing for Indiana. Those performances paved the way for an encouraging outing on Sunday.
Indiana came into its match against MTSU knowing another tough opponent lied ahead. The Blue Raiders have three singles players ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association top 150 and a doubles pairing ranked in the top 60.
The Hoosiers’ No. 2 doubles team of Fletchall and senior Mac Rogers, another player who made his season debut over the weekend, was tasked with facing the No. 44 pair in the country, seniors Pavel Motl and Stijn Slump.
Despite strong efforts, the Hoosiers lost by scores of 2-6 at both the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles spots, costing them the doubles point for the third match in a row. However, Wurtzman explained that Friday’s match helped his team gear up for that exact situation.
“We were prepared because we lost the doubles point on Friday,” Wurtzman said. “We talked a lot about what we would do if that happens again, and we responded much better today.”
The Hoosiers did not let up during their singles matches, despite what the final score suggests. Tiraspolsky lost his No. 3 match 2-6, 4-6, while Vukovic challenged No. 106 graduate student Stepan Holis in a 2-6, 3-6 loss at the No. 4 singles position. The No. 1, 2, 5 and 6 matches were all extremely tight, but the early 0-3 deficit proved costly for the Hoosiers.
In one of the most thrilling matches of the season, Haskins fell to No. 30 Slump 4-6, 6-7 (3-7). Haskins put up a tremendous fight against one of the country’s top players, and his loss was heartbreaking for multiple reasons. Indiana fans wanted to see the No. 1-ranked Hoosier complete the comeback and bring his team back into contention, but the loss sealed a victory for MTSU and stopped the remaining matches from being completed.
Fletchall was on course to defeat No. 82 senior Francisco Rocha in the No. 2 doubles match, but the match was stopped at 7-5, 4-6, 1-0. Singh and Saylor were in the midst of completing comebacks for Indiana with scores of 3-6, 6-4 and 5-7, 5-5, respectively.
Wurtzman said he was proud of how his team handled the match against MTSU, even if it resulted in a loss. He said the biggest positive Indiana can take away from the beginning of the season was the difference in its performance from Friday to Sunday.
“Our intensity, energy and team chemistry were much better today than on Friday, and we really never gave up,” Wurtzman said. “Hopefully that can lead us into a good week of practice and good results next weekend.”
The Hoosiers will look to gain their fourth and fifth wins of the season against Butler University and Xavier University on Feb. 20 in Bloomington.
