IU stuggles to adapt with new doubles combos

The No. 60 IU men's tennis team came up short this weekend in an effort to extend its unbeaten spring season. The Hoosiers were upended by No. 32 Louisville in Kentucky 6-1 on Friday, followed by a 5-3 defeat of the cream and crimson by No. 39 Middle Tennessee State the subsequent day.\nThe doubles tandems IU put forth this weekend were significantly different from those the Cardinals played in September in the Cincinnati Collegiate Invitational. Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, those changes failed to yield different results. IU coach Ken Hydinger's revamped doubles pairs lost three close matches, including an 8-7 loss by senior Dmytro Ishtuganov and sophomore Dara McLoughlin at No. 1 doubles to the No. 47-ranked team of Jeremy Clark and Jakob Gustafsson.\nIn singles, only Ishtuganov was able to claim a point for IU with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Damar Johnson at the No. 1 singles spot. The Kiev, Ukraine, native extended his dual match singles record to 5-0, and his overall record to 12-4. The rest of IU's starting squad lost tough singles matches en route to its 6-1 loss. That included No. 2 singles McLoughlin, whose loss at Louisville and Murfreesboro, Tenn., stretched his dual match record to 2-4.\nThe Hoosiers got off to a strong start against MTSU, winning two of the three doubles matches. Redshirt freshman Mak Kendall and sophomore Mike McCarthy earned an 8-6 win at the No. 3 position. Ishtuganov and McLoughlin continued their winning ways with a 9-7 victory over Brandon Allen and Kai Schledorn at the No. 1 slot. \nIn singles, Ishtuganov lost to the No. 97 player in the nation, Marco Born, 6-4, 6-3, and Bubenicek earned a 6-3, 6-3 win over Kai Schledorn at the No. 3 singles spot. Ishtuganov's overall record reached 12-5, while Bubenicek improved to 11-3. IU's lead, however, was brief after losing the rest of the six singles spots.\nAt 4-2 in the dual match season, the Hoosiers' next matches are Feb. 18 and 19 when IU will play host to Murray State and Ball State.