IU heads to Michigan in attempt to break slide

The Hoosiers will look to put a difficult stretch behind them this weekend as they travel north to Michigan in hopes of corralling a pair of Big Ten victories.
 
With little time to digest a double dose of defeat to Ohio State and Louisville, No. 23 Indiana (14-5, 2-1) will test its mettle in the Great Lakes State in back-to-back matches Saturday and Sunday.

Michigan State and No. 34 Michigan, are slated to provide the opposition as the cream and crimson search for conference victories number three and four.

The Hoosiers enter Saturday’s contest against the Spartans on the back of their first defeat to a team with an inferior ranking this season, having lost a 4-3 nonconference decision at home to No. 45 Louisville on Wednesday.

However, IU conceded no ground in the Big Ten race.

Still, the manner in which the Hoosiers dropped the match disappointed the players.

“You don’t expect to put this behind you quickly,” senior Jeremy Langer said.
“It was obviously a really difficult match. You’ve just got to take this match, learn from it and hope for the best in the future.”

Langer, who stumbled out of the gates against the Cardinals in surrendering his first set to Albert Wagner before recovering for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win, said he is seeking stronger starts this weekend.

“I’m absolutely going to bring more energy this weekend right from the start and just try to take over from the very beginning,” Langer said. “As a team, we definitely expect Michigan to come after us because we got them last year. But we definitely think we can compete with them at all positions.”

IU eked out a win against the Wolverines 4-3 and slew the Spartans 6-1 in the same matches last year, which were played out in Bloomington.

Against Louisville, Langer and junior Isade Juneau represented the lone bright spots in singles play, as each prevailed in his match, giving the Hoosiers points at No. 1 and No. 3 singles.

Senior Will Kendall said the Canadian duo, who also teamed up to vanquish the Cardinals’ No. 1 doubles team, should be riding a wave of confidence into this weekend’s slate of play.

“They both stepped up big and have got to be beating their chests,” Kendall said.

Juneau, who will likely again assume the top singles spot for the Hoosiers, will face an opponent ranked in the top 10 for the third time this season.

In his previous two attempts, Juneau went 0-1, losing in straight sets to then-No. 4 Costin Paval of Oklahoma and leading No. 5 Blaz Rola of Ohio State in the other before his match was halted as the outcome of the overall contest against the Buckeyes had been decided.