Twice this weekend McCoy found himself in a third set with the team match tied 3-3, meaning everything hinged on McCoy’s success or failure.
Both times McCoy won, giving No. 64 IU victories against No. 65 Cornell and No. 46 Dartmouth in the Kick Off Classic at Dartmouth.
On Friday, McCoy won at the No. 4 position 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 against Cornell’s Chris Vrabel to clinch IU’s first win of the spring season.
Saturday’s test proved even tougher. McCoy found himself down 5-4 in the third set with Dartmouth serving for the match. To make things even tougher, McCoy’s opponent Brendan Tannenbaum has a serve that can reach 130 mph.
McCoy won the game and forced a third set tiebreak where things did not get any easier.
Tannenbaum quickly jumped out to a 5-1 lead, needing only two more points to clinch a Dartmouth victory.
McCoy responded by winning the next six points before clinching an IU victory with an 8-6 win in the tiebreak.
These two clinching victories come after McCoy did the same in the 2014 Big Ten Tournament, clinching an IU win against Minnesota with a three-set victory.
IU also gained victories in singles Saturday from senior Sven Lalic and freshman Raheel Manji. IU also won the doubles point with a 6-4 victory from junior Chris Essick and sophomore Stefan Lugonjic and another 6-4 victory from Lalic and Manji.
IU lost the doubles point against Cornell. In addition to McCoy’s singles victory, IU also won at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions thanks to juniors Sam Monette and Daniel Bednarczyk.
IU will next play at Vanderbilt on Jan. 30 before returning home Feb. 1 to face Western Michigan.
Michael Hughes
