Hoosiers take 2 of 3 matches during busy weekend

A hard-fought win sandwiched by a heartbreaking loss and a 7-0 victory — all in a weekend’s work for the Hoosiers.

IU entered the two-day home stand in a tie for fifth in the Big Ten, knowing its weekend results would factor significantly into its ultimate finish in the conference.

After beating Wisconsin and DePauw but faltering against No. 40 Minnesota in a busy 32-hour stretch, the Hoosiers waved farewell to the weekend in much the same state — alone in sixth place in the Big Ten.

However, with fewer matches and fewer potential wins remaining on the schedule to bolster its overall résumé, IU has a window of opportunity to secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament that is narrower than before.

The weekend began just as the Hoosiers’ last home match, a last-gasp defeat to Louisville more than a fortnight ago, had ended in bitter disappointment. During Saturday’s sole contest, Minnesota rallied from a 3-1 deficit to claim a 4-3 victory and halted IU’s two-game Big Ten winning streak, which itself had been aided by a triumph of the same score in Nebraska the previous Sunday.

A new day brought a better pair of results the Hoosiers’ way, though, as Sunday, No. 31 IU (18-8, 5-4) used a quick start to overcome Wisconsin 5-2 and stay afloat in the conference standings and then proceed to overwhelm Division-III DePauw in a 7-0 contest.

“The thing that I’m most proud of is how resilient we’ve been despite tough situations,” IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal said. “Not once did we think we were not going to do what we did (Sunday) and battle through every situation, and I think that takes a lot of character.”

Senior Will Kendall, who has prevailed in all five singles bouts since moving to the No. 5 spot April 1 at Michigan, echoed his coach’s praise for his teammates and called on them to continue taking a hard-nosed approach in upcoming matches against Illinois and at Northwestern.

“It would have been easy to harp on (Minnesota), but everyone really responded and wants to turn this thing around,” Kendall said. “We’re close to going on a run, we just all need to take more individual ownership of the court we’re on. It’s a big responsibility to take on, but you have to go into your match with the mindset that the match as a whole is going to come down to me. You have to embrace the pressure, which we’ve handled well at times and crumbled under at others.”

Coming into the weekend, perhaps none of the Hoosiers’ key contributors had better embodied those erratic tendencies than junior Josh MacTaggart, who had seen his recent form ebb and flow in the opposite direction of the team as a whole.

In back-to-back team losses in Michigan two weeks ago, MacTaggart eased to a pair of victories, but in consecutive triumphs in Iowa and Nebraska the following weekend, he stumbled to a double-dose of defeat.

Bloemendaal said his preseason plan had accounted for the junior to be a model of consistency at the top of the lineup, as MacTaggart had played at the three spot as a sophomore. This past weekend, MacTaggart appeared to find that elusive gear, Bloemendal said.

“I think he’s on course to really start making a big jump,” Bloemendaal said. “I’m starting to see him do certain things — and it’s really not so much what’s going on in these matches — mentally and physically to get what it takes to get to the next level. We do need him, and then we need (senior Jeremy Langer) to do the same thing, and then we’re pretty much where we want to be at that point.”

Whether alone or alongside junior doubles partner Alastair Barnes, MacTaggart repeatedly flustered his opponents by returning seemingly every shot rifled his way.

Content to wait patiently and pounce on his adversaries’ flubbed forehands and attempts to rush the net, MacTaggart rolled to a 6-0 overall record. He registered three straight-set victories in as many attempts at singles play, including a 6-3, 6-4 win at Gopher and national No. 78 Leandro Toledo’s expense, to go along with a trio of doubles triumphs.

“He beat a good player, a kid from Wisconsin that plays No. 1 sometimes,” Kendall said. “They had a few warzone games early on, a few deuce-ad games, and Josh pulled through and the other kid decided it was too tough, too far of an uphill climb.”

On Sunday, the incline for all of MacTaggart’s opponents was equally as steep, his domination so thorough that during one stretch spanning both legs of the afternoon doubleheader, he captured 37 of 39 games.

The run, which began after a 3-3 start against the Badgers’ No. 2 doubles tandem, saw MacTaggart and Barnes take the last five games of that encounter and then win eight of nine opposite DePauw’s second-ranked duo later in the evening.

Most of the streak’s damage was done in singles action, though, as MacTaggart dropped only a solitary game in two matches of action. First, he badgered Wisconsin’s Frederik Ask into submission, ultimately trotting off the court a 6-0, 6-1 winner.

In the initial set against the Norwegian, MacTaggart even sealed the shutout in style, firing an winner past Ask and into the right corner to clinch a perfect first stanza.
For an encore, MacTaggart seized his first opportunity this season to play at No. 1 singles just hours later, routing DePauw’s Ben Kopecky 6-0, 6-0.