After advancing to the final 32 in doubles competition at the All-American Invitational in Tulsa, Okla., the IU team of Jeremy Langer and Maxime Armengaud was eliminated on Thursday.
The tandem fell to the No. 12 doubles team of Adam Baker and Alex Zotov (Vanderbilt) in a match that went back and forth throughout.
Langer and Armengaud were unable to capitalize on three match points when they led 7-5 and 7-6 and then again during the tiebreak, but the Hoosier duo showed resiliency late in the match.
Langer and Armengaud fought off four Vanderbilt match points before finally losing 9-8.
“I thought we played well,” IU coach Randy Bloemendaal said. “I just thought they could have played a little bit better during one of those points. It’s definitely disappointing when you don’t convert match points, but the other team played extremely well. It’s just one of those things that you have to learn from.”
The Hoosiers are now headed home after nearly a week in Tulsa. Despite the result, Bloemendaal was encouraged by the way Langer and Armengaud played together during their first All-American event.
The two sophomores had never played a doubles match together before going 3-1 this week.
IU has the weekend off and will return to competition next week when it plays in the Louisville Tournament.
“I don’t think we walk away from this and hang our heads,” Bloemendaal said. “I thought we did a lot of good things. These two guys got some good experience early in their careers. I really got to sit back and look at where we are at, and I think we are moving in the right direction.”
