Hoosiers beat Spartans, prepare for Michigan

Bring on Michigan – again.          

The No. 44 Hoosiers will play the three-seeded Wolverines for the second time in six days after taking care of No. 11 seed Michigan State 4-0 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday.
I
U (16-9), which beat the Spartans 7-0 on Saturday, took control from the start.

The Hoosiers grabbed the doubles point by winning matches at No. 2 and No. 3 and then made quick work of the Spartans in singles play.

Junior Santiago Gruter and sophomores Jeremy Langer and Will Kendall earned singles wins for the Hoosiers.

Gruter jumped on his opponent right away at No. 4 singles and rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 victory. Langer fell behind 3-1 in the first set at No. 2, but he battled back to win the set 6-3 and dominated Michigan State’s Austin Brooks 6-2 in the second.

“I just feel like whenever I go down in a match, I’m never out of it,” Langer said. “I can always bounce back and make adjustments.”

Kendall, who has been in and out of the singles lineup all season, looked as good as ever before in his 6-2, 6-2 win over the Spartans’ Joe Vallee at No. 6. He replaced freshman Alex van Gils, who had gotten the start in the first match against Michigan State.
“
We needed that,” Bloemendaal said. “It’s just a little different emotional pressure with the good crowd and the (weather) elements we had to face. I think, for the most part, the guys responded well to it.”

IU now turns its attention to this afternoon’s match with No. 25 Michigan. The Hoosier team said it feels confident about its chances to avenge its 5-2 loss to the Wolverines because the conditions will be different.

Sunday’s match between the two teams was played indoors.

“We’re playing outside, we’re playing in the wind and we know Michigan definitely doesn’t like that,” Langer said. “We love it. I think it’s going to be a great match, definitely in our favor.”