Tennis to face Dartmouth, Illinois Stat

The IU men’s tennis team will face a stiff test Sunday as it plays another doubleheader.

This time No. 61 IU will play No. 41 Dartmouth and unranked Illinois State.

Dartmouth (9-3) is not the first ranked team to play at the IU Tennis Center. The Hoosiers (7-6) have welcomed the likes of No. 1 Ohio State, No. 14 Vanderbilt and No. 58 Central Florida. IU has also played No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 10 Virginia and No. 25 Kentucky outside of Bloomington.

The Hoosiers have failed to win in these tough matches, however, going just 1-5 against these opponents.

IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal said Dartmouth’s ranking does not concern him.
“I’m glad they have a good number besides their name because they’re coming in and playing us,” Bloemendaal said. “I think it’s going to be a tough match, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t look at them and think it’s overwhelming.”

Dartmouth fields one of the best doubles teams in the country, with its No. 1 doubles team ranked No. 15 nationwide.

The Hoosiers have played and defeated talented doubles teams this season, including Ohio State, Vanderbilt and NC State.

All these teams have at least one pairing currently ranked in the top 35 in the country.
“I haven’t really tried to define what we do well and what we don’t,” Bloemendaal said. “But I think that we are starting to become a really good doubles team.”

Bloemendaal also said he is confident in the ability of his players to beat good opponents. Sophomore Daniel Bednarczyk defeated a player from Ohio State on Monday who was previously undefeated in college tennis.

“I feel like we match up once we get on the court with anybody,” Bloemendaal said. “I feel like we’re physically as good as anybody.”

Bloemendaal said his team is currently lacking a standout player that many top teams have. Sophomore Samuel Monette is closest to that type of player, Bloemendaal said.

 Monette entered the ITA rankings for the first time in his career at No. 53 this week.

One player who will need to bounce back for the Hoosiers will be sophomore Elliot Yee, who is having a good season so far but lost two singles matches in three days against Vanderbilt and Ohio State.

“When he went through what he went through on Friday, young players have a hard time digesting that situation,” Bloemendaal said. “The bad news on that is sometimes you get thrown back into the fire in a really tight high pressure match.”

Bloemendaal also compared Illinois State (4-3) to other teams they have faced this year, such as Western Michigan and Northern Illinois. The Hoosiers won both of those matches.

IU played Northern Illinois as the second part of the doubleheader, and the first match was against Central Florida. Bloemendaal said he expects Sunday to be just as tough. Bloemendaal also said he expects his team to not only improve from these difficult matches, but to also start winning.

“We have come out of those days so far and gotten a lot better,” Bloemendaal said. “Obviously, at this point we want to break through, win some matches and get in position to make the NCAAs and make a run in the Big Ten.”?