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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

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Josh MacTaggart has fairytale streak before falling in regional quarterfinals

Mens Tennis - IU Invitational

Josh MacTaggart has something special.

That seemed to be the consensus after the IU freshman and United Kingdom native surprised everyone by advancing to the singles round of eight at the Wilson/ITA Ohio Valley Regional this weekend.

MacTaggart fell to Vanderbilt’s Ryan Lipman 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinal, but it was his road to Sunday that captured the crowd’s attention.

MacTaggart won his first-round match easily (6-1, 6-1), but he ran into problems against his seeded opponent in the second round.

After taking 12 of the first 13 points and winning the first set 6-1, MacTaggart began to struggle against the No. 63 player in the nation, Bryant Salcedo of Vanderbilt.

Salcedo won the second set 6-2 and went ahead 4-1 in the third set before the freshman responded.

MacTaggart would take the next five games to earn himself a spot in the round of 16.

He then faced a much bigger and stronger player in East Tennessee State’s Victor Melo.

MacTaggart was not afraid.

He found himself in a familiar situation after dropping the first set 3-6, but he worked hard to earn a 7-5 second set and won the match when Melo left with an injury.

“He had a great weekend,” IU coach Randy Bloemendaal said. “To say it wasn’t a surprise, I think anyone in the tournament would be lying to you. It was definitely a surprise. The thing about Josh is he thinks he can win. Mentally, he does things on a lot higher level than most young men his age, and he makes a lot of balls. That’s a pretty good combination.”

Had MacTaggart not run into one of the best players in the field, he might still be playing today.

Lipman, a freshman from Nashville, Tenn., was ranked No. 3 in the class of 2009 and finished second at the junior Nationals last year.

He knocked IU junior Lachlan Ferguson out of the tournament Saturday and ended MacTaggart’s run Sunday.

“That match that he played against Ferg was as high a level of tennis that I’ve seen since I’ve been coaching college tennis these last 14 or 15 years,” Bloemendaal said. “I think he’s going to be one of the better players in the country. He’s a special player.”

MacTaggart was happy with his success, but he was by no means satisfied.

“It was really good to get this far in the tournament,” he said. “But I really would have liked to go a little bit further. Maybe next time I’ll get a little bit further.”

The regional, which was played at the IU Tennis Center, was an overall success for the Hoosiers.

Last year, IU had only four players in the main draw. This year, it had seven.

Last year, only two Hoosiers advanced to the round of 32. This year, four advanced.

Last year, no IU players made it past the second round. This year, MacTaggart and Ferguson did.

They might not have accomplished their goal of a championship, but the Hoosiers are making jumps, and they’re making them in a hurry.

“When guys make breakthroughs, it’s good for the team,” Bloemendaal said. “Winning championships means getting up on a higher level, and a breakthrough means the guys are going to try to go above and beyond that, and that’s good for the team.”

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