IU rallies to take down No. 13 Illinois to remain undefeated in conference play

They’ve done it again.

Six days after defeating then-No. 18 Michigan — the highest-ranked opponent to lose to the Hoosiers since April 2008 — IU beat No. 13 Illinois 4-3 Saturday by winning three consecutive matches to clinch the victory.

It was the Hoosiers’ first win against the Illini, a perennial Big Ten power, since April 13, 1997.

The No. 29 Hoosiers also swept No. 62 Iowa 7-0 Sunday to move to 18-4 and 5-0 in the Big Ten.

Unlike in the Michigan match, the Hoosiers lost the doubles point against the Illini and played from behind the entire match.

IU sophomore Josh MacTaggart, who scored the clinching point against the Wolverines and the Illini, said IU coach Randy Bloemendaal laid into the team after it lost the doubles point.

“Coach gave us a real ass-kicking over here, so I’m sure that helped kick us into gear,” MacTaggart said. “We knew we weren’t executing and against a team that’s ranked 13, you can’t just win by not executing.”

Even though many of IU’s players got off to good starts in singles, Illinois took two of the first three singles matches to take a 3-1 lead.

That meant the only Hoosiers still playing, sophomores MacTaggart and Isade Juneau and freshman Claes Goransson, all needed to win their respective matches for an IU victory.

Goransson finished first, knocking off No. 61 Abe Souza 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) at the No. 4 spot. Bloemendaal said it was an impressive win for his player.

“Souza’s always been nails for Illinois,” Bloemendaal said. “I think he’s one of the positions they expect to win all the time and for a freshman to step up and play like that, that’s huge.”

After Gorannson left the court, Juneau won a tight 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 match to knot the overall score at 3-3.

MacTaggart, with the full attention of his vocal teammates, then finished off No. 95 Johnny Hamui 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 with a backhand lob winner.

Bloemendaal said despite being down 3-1, there was no sense of panic.

“I just knew we couldn’t flinch,” Bloemendaal said. “I knew we had a good chance of winning all of those matches but our margin for error was zero at that point.

“At the time I wasn’t thinking of it as a body of work. I was just thinking, ‘Which match can we get next?’ Claes was right there and got that one, Isade battled through and ended up getting that one, and then Josh turned his match in the second set and did a heck of a job to clinch again.”

The weekend wins put the Hoosiers in a tie with Ohio State atop the Big Ten.

Juneau said the win was a message to the rest of the conference.

“It’s the biggest win of the season,” he said. “It’s important because we want to win the Big Ten, and they usually come in second in the Big Ten. By winning that we just showed every team that we can win. We’re up there with everyone so no one’s going to come play us and think they’re going to beat us easy. Now everyone’s got to
respect us.”