IU recruits top tennis talent from Kansas, Canada, England

Kansas, Canada and England might not have a lot in common, but three students from their respective homes do.

Tommy Aliber, Isade Juneau and Joshua Mactaggart are the newest faces of Hoosier tennis.

All three bring respectable resumes to Bloomington.

“(Aliber’s) attitude, it’s going to be contagious on the court and he’s going to be a super team player. He’s got the ability to step in right away and play doubles for us,” IU coach Randy Bloemendaal said. “He knows what it takes to be a champion. He’s definitely one of the players of the future.”

As the No. 1 player in the Missouri Valley younger than 18, Aliber has won numerous singles and doubles championships in his area. He was a Missouri Class 1 state finalist in 2006. Aliber helped lead his Pembroke Hill Raiders to a Class 1 team state title in 2006 and a 4th-place finish in 2007.

He was also named first-team All-Metro for 2006 and 2007, along with earning the All-Metro Player of the Year Award in 2007.

Sophomore player Will Kendall was able to meet both Aliber and Juneau during their trips to IU.

“Aliber seems like a really good kid and Juneau seems like a cool kid also,” Kendall said. “We’re looking forward to having them and Joshua (Mactaggart) on the team.”

A ranked player in Quebec for the under-14, -16 and -18 age groups, Juneau has been ranked in Canada’s top five since 2004. He has two national titles in doubles.

“One of the reasons I was interested in him is the guys are going to really like being his teammate,” Bloemendaal said of the Quebec, Canada, native. “He’s just one of those people that has a great personality. He’s a good singles and a good doubles player, so he can help us with either one.”

Last summer, Juneau won the under-18 Outdoor Provincial title in singles and doubles, and he ended up 3rd at the under-18 Indoor Nationals. He also participated in the Junior Davis Cup in 2007.

Ranked 45th in the men’s division in England, Mactaggart holds the second highest ranking of any junior. Mactaggart also carries a No. 748 ranking in juniors for the International Tennis Federation.

He qualified for the Masters event of the British Tour and won in the first round before falling to the tournament’s No. 2 seed.

“We really believe his best tennis is in front of him,” Bloemendaal said of Mactaggart. “He’s a player who is going to develop into the top players in the country. He’s very professional about the way he goes about pretty much everything he does. I think he’ll come in and immediately be able to fill a spot in the lineup and contribute at a very high level.”

Mactaggart has earned wins in both the Wirral Open men’s tournament and the under-18 junior events, the biggest tournament in Wirral. He also played for the state of Cheshire in men’s and under-18 divisions for the last two years.

With a tough Big Ten conference schedule, the three recruits will face a challenge from day one.

Kendall claims one of the main adjustments during match play is not letting the distractions of a big school get in the way of match play. Kendall says he is confident all the recruits will adjust well to IU.

“We have so many international kids on our team, they’ll fit in fine,” he said.