Indiana men’s tennis failed to shed their losing streak after their two-match West Coast road trip Sunday afternoon at the David X. Marks Tennis Stadium on USC’s campus in Los Angeles.
Heading into the affair against the Trojans, Indiana had suffered three straight losses. Their most recent defeat came at the hands of UCLA in dominant fashion, as they got swept 7-0.
But despite the loss on Friday night, Indiana hoped to turn things around before heading back home. With a three-match losing streak on their hands, this game seemed like a must-win for the Cream and Crimson.
However, the Hoosiers failed to gain any momentum, ultimately falling 6-1.
The Trojans came into the matchup on Sunday with a record of 7-4 (1-0 Big Ten), while Indiana held a record of 9-3 (0-1 Big Ten).
With doubles play kicking off, Indiana had a chance to strike first against USC. However, things quickly went downhill for the Hoosiers.
USC took the victory over Indiana’s freshman duo of Braeden Gelletich and Karan Raghavendra 6-1 on court No. 3. With the loss, USC only needed to secure a victory on one of the other two courts to take the doubles point.
Ultimately, the Trojans would end up taking the doubles point. Their pairing of graduate student Tristan Bradley and senior Peter Makk beat out Indiana junior Jip van Assendelft and sophomore Ben Pomeranets on the No. 1 court double court.
This marked the second time all year that Indiana had lost the doubles point. Both times had occurred during the past two matches against USC and UCLA.
USC secured the doubles point and led 1-0 overall. After a slow start against UCLA on Friday night, losing the doubles point was not the recipe for success the Hoosiers were looking for.
However, there was still time to regroup for Indiana. After a five-minute break between the action, the Cream and Crimson looked to start off strong in singles play.
Instead, USC would set the tone and put pressure on the visiting Hoosiers. On the No. 4 singles court, USC freshman Matteo Morazzi defeated junior Sam Scherer 6-1, 6-0.
After a tightly contested first set on the No. 2 court between USC freshman Nathan Trouve and Indiana junior Deacon Thomas, the Hoosiers had some hope.
But USC’s lead grew backed by a dominant second set from Trouve. When it was all said and done on No. 2, Indiana's Thomas was defeated 6-4, 6-0.
At this point in the match, USC held a 3-0 lead and were only one point away from victory. With match point on the line, all eyes turned to the No. 6 court.
USC freshman Connor Church took control of the game and prevailed over fellow freshman Matteo Antonescu 6-3, 6-2.
With the victory on the No. 6 court, USC grabbed the victory over the Hoosiers.
Although the match was sealed, the other matches continued. For Indiana, their hope at this point in the match was to avoid being swept for the second consecutive match.
Despite still missing their No. 1 player in redshirt sophomore Facundo Yunis, avoiding a second straight sweep was critical.
Fortunately for Indiana, it was able to avoid the sweep. Gelletich defeated USC senior Karl Lee in a scrappy battle 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
USC would wrap up the day with a pair of victories on the No. 1 and No. 3 singles courts.
Makk won over Indiana’s van Assendelft on No. 1 by a final score of 2-6, 6-1, 6-0. The match wrapped up at No. 3 as USC sophomore Volodymyr Lakubenko defeated Pomeranets 6-4, 5-7, 10-6.
The Hoosiers rounded out the road trip with a 0-2 record. With two straight defeats in conference play, Indiana now moved to a record of 9-4 (0-2 Big Ten) on the season.
The Cream and Crimson will be back in action Friday night to face off against Northwestern inside the IU Tennis Center in Bloomington. After an undefeated 9-0 start to the year, Indiana will look to avoid losing its fifth consecutive game.
Follow reporter Elakai Anela (elakai_anela) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s tennis season.
