Hoosiers continue to dominate Boilermakers on court, at net

The Hoosiers kicked off Big Ten play in style Wednesday, pounding Purdue on the road for the seventh-consecutive triumph in the rivalry.    

The 6-1 conference-opening victory moves No. 21 Indiana to 12-3 on the season (1-0 Big Ten) and drops No. 70 Purdue to 6-7 overall (0-1 Big Ten).  

Senior Jeremy Langer made Hoosier history in the process, gaining sole possession of the school’s all-time record for career doubles wins. Langer and junior Isade Juneau, who have complemented each other in every match to date this season as IU’s No. 1 duo, prevailed against Purdue’s top twosome, Aaron Dujovne and Szymon Tatarczyk, by an 8-2 mark.

The unprecedented 95th career doubles victory propelled Langer past former Hoosier Santiago Gruter, who had set the mark only this past year.

History for the Hoosiers seemed to be the theme of the day, as seniors Will Kendall and Stephen Vogl joined Langer in preserving their perfect regular season mark against the Boilermakers.  

Before the match had even begun, Purdue entered knowing they had taken a precipitous fall in the ITA team rankings, as those released Tuesday placed the Boilermakers a full 18 spots below the No. 52 spot, which they held this past week.

A pair of losses to unranked foes in San Diego prompted the tumble in the rankings, which chart the top-75 squads in the country.

Purdue’s plunge represented the greatest drop from the previous week for any of the teams included in this week’s edition.   

The Hoosiers, winners of five straight as they embarked on their trip to West Lafayette, Ind., remained fixed to the No. 21 spot, which they also occupied in this past week’s rankings.  

The contrasting recent forms of the rivals continued Wednesday. Despite an initial setback at No. 2 doubles, the recipient of the doubles point was never in doubt. The Hoosiers recorded emphatic wins at both No. 1 and No. 3 spots, ensuring they would carry a 1-0 lead and momentum into singles play.  

After juniors Josh MacTaggart and Alastair Barnes’ match went final, ending in an 8-2 defeat to Mark Kovacs and Diego Acosta, Kendall and Vogl evened the mark with an 8-1 win.

The split set the stage for Langer and Juneau to snatch the point — and for Langer to etch his name in Hoosier tennis lore — by defeating Dujovne and Tatarczyk, 8-2.

IU soon forced the Boilermakers into a series of must-win matches by quickly extending its lead to 3-0, as MacTaggart and Juneau eased to straight-set victories against Kristian Krocsko and Kovacs, respectively. Dujovne gave Purdue hope with a triumph at the No. 5 slot against sophomore Dimitrije Tasic, 6-2, 6-2, but the contest would prove to be the solitary bright spot for Purdue in singles action.

Vogl needed three sets for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 take down of Acosta at the No. 4 spot, but ultimately registered the decisive point for the Hoosiers. Langer and Kendall followed suit, though, in extremely disparate fashions.

While Langer dispatched of Tatarczyk for the second time of the afternoon in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, Kendall squandered a 5-2 second set lead that had put him within one game of a similar outcome.  

The senior and Short Hills, N.J., native dropped four straight second set games and then lost the tiebreak, 7-2, setting the stage for a decisive third set tiebreak. I
In the tiebreak, Kendall, who was playing his final match against Purdue, displayed the sort of resolve IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal said he has come to expect from his seniors, pulling out victory by a razor-thin 11-9 margin.