The fans inside the IU Tennis Center in Bloomington chanted “Go red, go white,” emphatically as redshirt sophomore Facundo Yunis and Indiana men's tennis held match point over Dartmouth College on Saturday.
With the rest of the team gathered around the court in nervousness, Yunis finished the grueling three-and-a-half-hour marathon of a match with a dominant forehand that sailed over his opponent's head. As the entire team rushed the court to hug their star player, Yunis screamed out, “Let’s go,” in excitement.
With the 4-2 victory Indiana improved to 3-0 to start the season, which raises excitement for the team and fans. Head coach Jeremy Wurtzman credited the atmosphere of the fans as one of the reasons why the team dug deep and showed an immense amount of resilience.
“We made it (the match) a home court advantage and that was huge from our fans to come and cheer the way they did and get our guys through the match,” Wurtzman said after the game. “So that was key for our win today. Even their guys on the other team, were saying that it was such a tough environment to play in.”
In doubles competition, Indiana took the first point of the match. Yunis and freshman Braeden Gelletich won 6-3 on court No. 3 while junior Sam Sherer and freshman Matteo Antonescu won 6-2 on court No. 2.
Junior Jip van Assendelft set the tone for Indiana in singles play by earning a win on court No. 2, defeating Dartmouth senior Hikaru Takeda in two sets, 6-2, 6-4. However, Dartmouth fought back as Indiana junior Deacon Thomas and freshman Braeden Gelletich both fell short against Dartmouth’s Miles Groom and Henry Ren 6-2, 6-4 in both respective matches tying the total score at 2-2.
With the score tied, Ben Pomeranets squeaked out a massive win and point over sophomore Yujiro Onuma losing 6-1 in the first set following up with, 6-2, 6-2 victory in the next two sets to give Indiana the overall 1-point lead. Now the Hoosiers were only a point away from victory, but that’s where chaos began to take place. Over the next hour, neither school backed down from each other, leading to a tiebreaker on court No. 1 between Indiana’s Yunis and Dartmouth senior Carlos Guerrero Alvarez.
Yunis put the finishing touches on the Hoosiers’ victory, beating Guerrero Alvarez by in two out of the three sets. For van Assendelft, he thought it was refreshing to see the adversity and fight from his teammates. He continued to support his teammates from the sidelines, especially fellow teammate Yunis.
“It was amazing to see Facundo fight at the end and come away with the victory,” van Assendelft said. “I think we have to keep doing the same thing—just keeping the energy high moving forward.”
After falling short to Dartmouth last year in Hanover, New Hampshire, last season, Saturday’s win felt especially key for the players and the coaches to begin the year. Indiana hopes to continue to build on their momentum
“It was a tough match,” Wurtzman said. “We lost to them last year, so it nice to get the win this year. They’re a good team, they play hard, and we had to match that. We found a way to fight back in some matches and held the lead in others, so it was an awesome job from the boys to come out on top.”
Follow reporter Elakai Anela (elakai_anela) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s tennis season.
