IU junior Raheel Manji said it was going to be essential for the Hoosiers to be victorious in the first dual matchup of the season.
Manji said two match wins in the first weekend of competition would not only look good on the record but would also give the team confidence and show what IU men’s tennis could accomplish this season.
On Saturday IU accomplished its goal of picking up opening-weekend wins as it went on the road to beat both Bryant and Dartmouth, 4-0 and 6-1, respectively. The Hoosiers were strong in doubles play in both matchups and even came back from being a set down in two of their singles games against the Dartmouth Big Green.
“It was great to get the season started,” IU Coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. “We have been preparing very hard and been very detailed in our practices in our preparation for the last couple of weeks to get ready for the season.”
IU faced Bryant in its first match Saturday, and in the doubles play IU began displaying its superiority by coming out on top in all of the three matches.
Freshmen Zac Brodney and Bennett Crane won their match first 6-3, and sophomores Afonso Salgado and Oliver Sec won by the same score. Senior Stefan Lugonjic and sophomore Antonio Cembellin had more difficulties but were still able to clinch the win.
In singles play Cembellin led the Hoosier lineup at position one. Despite not being able to finish his match due to the rapid two-set victories of his teammates at positions two, five and six that clinched the match for IU, he said he was happy for the opportunity.
“Playing at one was my dream since I came here,” Cembellin said. “When you come here to IU you fight for it, and then you play at one, and it’s like you made your dream real.”
After the matchup against Bryant, IU faced Dartmouth later that day. The Big Green presented a tough challenge for the Hoosiers to overcome.
Manji and junior Keivon Tabrizi played at No. 1 doubles and went all the way to a tiebreaker to pull out the win.
To give the Hoosiers the doubles point, the freshman duo of Brodney and Crane won at position three.
In singles Manji, playing at position one, won 6-0, 6-3, the biggest IU singles win of the matchup. At position five, Crane also won in two sets. These two matches were the only ones the Hoosiers were able to win in two sets.
All of the other singles matches were finalized in the third set, but IU only lost at position four. Tabrizi and Cembellin came back to win after being a set down at positions two and three.
“We knew going in it was going to be a very competitive match,” Wurtzman said. “It is never easy to play teams in their building. It is nice to see some of the inexperience did not come out and that we were a very mature team.”
