Hoosiers go winless against foe Kentucky

As the adage goes, a picture doesn’t always tell the whole story.

A Polaroid of the lopsided final scoreline of Tuesday’s men’s tennis showdown between No. 29 Indiana and No. 7 Kentucky in Lexington, Ky., would reveal the Hoosiers failed to record a single point, dropping the contest by a score of 7-0.

Such an image would capture only a blurry snapshot of the day’s action. Against a Wildcat outfit comprised entirely of players ranked in the ITA top 125, the Hoosiers were highly competitive, taking each of the top three singles matches to three sets. In a harsh turn of events, though, juniors Isade Juneau and Josh MacTaggart and senior Jeremy Langer all forced a final stanza, only to be ultimately defeated.

IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal summed up the post-match mood in the
Hoosier camp with one word.

“Unreal,” Bloemendaal said. “The matches lasted close to six hours. We were in control of them until we got the lead — we just need to be more disciplined once we are in front.”

The much-anticipated encounter, which renewed a robust rivalry between the two schools, began with Kentucky taking the doubles point in exceedingly close fashion.

After each team had recorded convincing victories of its own in doubles play, the outcome of the day’s first point to be awarded rested on the battle between the schools’ top tandems.

In what was to become a pattern for the remainder of the contest, the Wildcats nipped the Hoosiers as Eric Quigley and Panav Jha topped the Juneau and Langer duo by an 8-6 mark, propelling Kentucky to an early overall lead of 1-0.

“I was frustrated with the overall tone and competitiveness in doubles,” Bloemendaal said. “I went after them (between doubles and singles play), and they responded. We were up. We should have won three of the first four matches.”

The trend of tantalizing near misses continued throughout the afternoon. No. 13 Alex Musialek defeated Juneau despite falling in the first set, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, while No. 5 Eric Quigley beat MacTaggart, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. In the closest encounter, No. 36 Anthony Rossi fought off a match point before triumphing against Langer in a third-set tiebreak, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1).

In other singles action, sophomore Dimitrije Tasic lost to No. 95 Tom Jomby, 7-6 (7), 6-4, after a break on Tasic’s serve while up 6-5 prevented him from capturing the first set.

Though overall victory for the Hoosiers had become a mathematical impossibility even before No. 111 Alejandro Gomez dispatched Stephen Vogl in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, Alastair Barnes, the final competitor for Indiana, refused to easily surrender the last point at No. 6 singles to the Wildcats.   

The January transfer from Tulsa, Okla., who was playing in only his third official match as a member of the team, prevailed in the first set against No. 85 Panav Jha. However, the path to victory once again proved impenetrable for the cream and crimson as Jha overcame Barnes, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (6).

Despite the tough result, the Hoosiers’ coach said he’s already set his mind on this weekend’s ITA Kickoff, which starts at 2 p.m. Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. IU will face off Saturday against No. 28 Notre Dame for the right to challenge No. 3 Ohio State on Sunday.

“We’ll take this in stride,” Bloemendaal said. “If we’re better on Saturday and Sunday, we’ll forget about this one fast.”