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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

Hoosiers set for final tune-up

The IU men’s tennis team will play in its last tune-up competition this weekend.

The Hoosiers are in Blacksburg, Va.for the Hokie Challenge, which begins at 4 p.m. today.

With the regular season only eight days away, this is the last chance for some of IU’s younger players to prove themselves before the first lineup is released.

“We need to see who can play up at the top in this tournament so that we can determine a lineup by the next match,” said IU coach Randy Bloemendaal. “I have a better idea after Vegas, and I should have a really good idea after this tournament.”

The competition’s talent level is incredibly high.

Of the four teams in the tournament, three are ranked in the top 50 (No. 23 Auburn, No. 27 Virginia Tech, No. 48 IU). The College of Charleston is the only unranked team in the field.

Because of the tournament’s round-robin format, Bloemendaal expects nearly everyone to play at least one match during the weekend. One exception is junior Lachlan Ferguson, who is still dealing with an undisclosed injury.

Bloemendaal said Ferguson could return in a week or he could be out for an extended period of time, depending on how he feels on a day-to-day basis.

“It’s hard to tell,” Bloemendaal said. “Lachlan is hitting balls now, and we’d like to see him get into doubles at some point soon and then slowly work his way back into singles.”

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