Men's team looks to autumn tourneys to set tone for season

As the school year begins to get in the swing of things so too does the IU men's tennis team, using a summer's worth of preparation and hard work for the upcoming Intercollegiate Tennis Association qualifying matches.\nThese matches will take place in the fall will go a long way to determine how the Hoosiers will look when they begin team matches in the spring.\nAfter coming off a year in which the team finished with a record of 12-10, 1-9 in the Big Ten and a national ranking of 44 in the country, players from the men's tennis team continued to play in many tournaments in their home regions as part of their work on getting ready for the upcoming season, 19th year coach Ken Hydinger said.\n"Most of the guys go home for the summer," Hydinger said. "In tennis we want them to go play the best tournaments they can play."\nThis approach was used by many players including junior Ryan Recht and sophomore John Stone.\nRecht, a 6-foot-2-inch junior out of Fort Wayne, played in many tournaments throughout the summer including the ITA National Summer Championships which were held in Bloomington in August. Recht finished second in singles where he fell in finals to Chris Martin out of Illinois. Even though he fell in the finals, the experience picked up will be beneficial for the upcoming season, Recht said.\n"Playing in the tournaments should be helpful for me in the upcoming season," Recht said. "I got a chance to get some practice against other top players at the tournament, and it also gives me a chance to feel out opponents for the season."\nStone, out of Greenwood, Ind., also finished well in the ITA National Summer Championships, advancing to the semi-finals of doubles competition before bowing out. His partner in the tournament was Recht, and the opportunity to continue on something that had started late last season was important to getting ready for the season.\n"The tournament was huge in getting ready for the upcoming season," Stone said. "We ended the season and beat Illinois." \nBesides playing in tournaments, many members of the team also participated in off-season workouts which included working on physical conditioning through on-court activity, running, and weight training.\nEven though the Hoosiers won't begin competing until October, getting playing time for everyone is important as the Hoosiers welcome five new faces to the team to go along with the four players returning from last year's squad.\n"For some of the new guys our expectations are to break them in and learn what collegiate tennis is about, and to see the level of play," Hydinger said. "We are hoping to get everyone a lot of matches this fall."\nFor the Hoosiers, all of the work in the summer is for the goal of reaching the NCAA tournament, which they haven't done since 2001.\n"All of our work is on the belief that we will be there," Hydinger said. "And we are working toward that."\n-- Contact staff writer Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu