On a cloudy and rainy day, Indiana men’s tennis faced off against its in-state rival Purdue inside the comfortable confines of Schwartz Tennis Center in West Lafayette, Indiana.
This was the final game of the Hoosiers’ three-game road trip. Previously on the road trip, they beat Wisconsin to snap an eight-game losing streak March 28 in Madison, Wisconsin, but fell to Nebraska on March 30 in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Heading into the match, Indiana held a record of 10-9 (1-7 Big Ten) while Purdue entered at 9-8 (1-7 Big Ten). The Boilermakers had lost their last five games before this match, so both teams were relatively struggling heading into the affair Saturday.
Doubles play started the match for both teams. It was a tightly contested doubles point, but ultimately Purdue edged out the victory with wins on the No. 1 and No. 3 courts.
Purdue’s pairing of junior Aleksa Krivokapic and sophomore Juan David Velasquez defeated Indiana junior Sam Scherer and freshman Ben Pomeranets 6-2 on the No. 1 court.
The Hoosiers evened up the score with a 6-4 victory led by graduate student Michael Andre and freshman Matteo Antonescu on the No. 2 court.
With all eyes turned to the No. 3 court, the Boilermakers put away the doubles point with a victory from their duo of sophomore Henrik Villanger and freshman Maj Premzl in tiebreakers 7-6 (6).
Although the doubles point came down to the wire, Indiana wasn’t able to pull it out in tiebreakers. Then, the Cream and Crimson had to turn their focus to singles play.
The Hoosiers got off to a slow start. Indiana lost on the No. 6 court to kick off singles play as Purdue freshman Nour Fathalla defeated Scherer 6-3, 6-4 to give Purdue a 2-0 advantage in the match.
Down by two, Indiana responded. Freshman Braeden Gelletich defeated Premzl 7-6 (5), 6-2 on the No. 4 court.
However, Purdue took the win at the No. 3 singles court by a final score of 6-3, 7-6 (6). The victory by Purdue’s Villanger pushed the Boilermakers to within a point of victory, as they led 3-1 in the match.
Purdue closed the book on the match, as Krivokapic defeated fellow junior Jip van Assendelft 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) in tiebreakers.
Ultimately, the Hoosiers fell to the Boilermakers 4-1. With the loss, Indiana moves back to a .500 record, sitting at 10-10.
The Cream and Crimson wrapped up the road trip with a record of 1-2 against Nebraska, Wisconsin and Purdue. Indiana comes back home Friday afternoon to play Oregon at 5 p.m. at IU Tennis Center in Bloomington looking to snap their two-game losing streak.
Follow reporter Elakai Anela (elakai_anela) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s tennis season.
