Men's golf places eighth in Orlando

In its first tournament since a second-place finish in Guadalajara, IU ended tournament play in eighth place out of 15. \nThe Hoosiers came into the Orange County Invitational with its freshman class ranking No. 1, according to Golfstat's Freshmen Impact Rating. Among this top-ranked class was Caceres, Spain native Jorge Campillo who received the Big Ten Golfer of the Week honors after finishing second in Mexico. Despite the group's accolades, coach Mike Mayer felt his freshmen had nothing to prove coming into Orlando. \n"I don't look at them as freshmen anymore," he said, "so I don't think there's any pressure for them to maintain that impact ranking." \nMayer even felt confident enough in his freshmen's abilities that he changed the lineup to include them all. \nIn Orlando, four freshmen -- Campillo, Seth Brandon, Drew Allenspach, and Brandon Pike -- accompanied sophomore Santiago Quirarte in the lineup. IU failed to replicate the dominant performance it had in Mexico but remained in contention for a top-five finish throughout the tournament. \nAfter finishing round one 17 strokes ahead of the second-place team, Lamar University never looked back on its way to capturing the tournament championship. The Cardinals were one of only three teams that finished under par and were never truly challenged for the top spot. \nThe Hoosiers came into the third and final round of play in fifth place but fell to an eighth-place finish after shooting an 8-over 296 to end the tournament. IU received another strong outing from Campillo, who finished tied for sixth, but the Hoosiers did not have the top finishes across the board as they did in Mexico. After four players placed in the top 25 with a fifth at 33rd in their last tournament, the Hoosiers left Florida with only Allenspach tied at 25th in addition to Campillo's top-10 finish. Quirarte, Brandon, and Pike all ended in ties for 29th, 55th, and 64th respectively. \nIU's overall scores were not considerably higher than its last tournament, yet Orlando's leaderboard was far more competitive. While the team has received some high individual finishes, the players realize that solid team play is necessary for them to get where they want to be: on top. \n"We all need to contribute, said Allenspach. "We all need to post some good scores so we can have nice, consistent rounds." \nAfter falling to 5-5 on the spring season, the IU men's tennis team looks to bounce back against in-state rival No. 18 Notre Dame. The Hoosiers recently dropped tough matches to No. 3 Illinois and No. 65 Purdue, opening the Big Ten season on a sour note.\nThe Irish are coming off wins against previously unbeaten No. 11 Ohio State and four other Big Ten opponents, including the Boilermakers. Notre Dame (8-4 overall) counts in its ranks two nationally ranked players, including No. 17 Stephen Bass, who has already reached the 20-win plateau in singles. Last year, the Irish defeated the Hoosiers 5-2, with IU's only wins coming against Bass and Irish junior Barry King. \nThe Illini sent IU packing 7-0 Feb. 25. Illinois claimed the doubles point early, but the Hoosiers took three singles affairs to three sets before they were swept by an Illini team that possesses four nationally-ranked singles players. \n"We played better in a losing effort against a good team," said IU head coach Ken Hydinger after the loss to the Illini. "We need to start putting together some wins. We are competitive against a top-notch opponent, but it really doesn't mean too much until we learn to close people out."\nAt the No. 1 position, senior Dmytro Ishtuganov dropped the first set 6-4 to No. 6 Kevin Anderson. The Kiev, Ukraine native took the second set 6-2, before falling in a third-set in a close tiebreaker 10-8. Junior David Bubenicek, who played his second-straight match at the No. 2 position, battled tough with No. 71 G.D. Jones 7-6 (0), 5-7, 1-0 (2). Another senior, Neil Kenner, dropped a three-set match at the No. 4 spot 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.\nAfter a solid showing against the 9-1 Illini, the Hoosiers fell to rival Purdue in West Lafayette 5-2. IU lost the doubles point after dropping two close matches at the No. 2 and 3 positions respectively. However, Ishtuganov and sophomore Dara McLoughlin improved to 5-3 at the No. 1 doubles spot after winning 8-5. McLoughlin also earned his 10th singles win of the season after winning 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, at the No. 3 singles spot. Fellow sophomore Michael McCarthy defeated Purdue's Matt Zollman 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 5 singles position.\nThe match against Notre Dame starts at 2 p.m. in Bloomington.