Men's tennis beats Wisconsin, falls to Minnesota

IU sophomore Daniel Bednarczyk yelled triumphantly as he prepared for a third set.

He just won a second-set tiebreak following a dramatic break of Minnesota’s Ruben Weber’s serve. A third set victory would secure a weekend sweep and IU’s first two Big Ten wins.

Bednarczyk lost the third set 6-4.

No. 65 IU’s 4-3 loss against No. 50 Minnesota was bittersweet after the Hoosiers defeated No. 62 Wisconsin 4-3 Friday.

“We’re not happy with it,” IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal said. “We really thought we were going 2-0. I knew after we beat Wisconsin that it was going to be tough emotionally. It takes you a while with a young team to go through what we went through with Wisconsin and get back up to that level.”

IU played both matches without the presence of sophomore Samuel Monnete. Monette was sidelined with an elbow injury, frcing changes in both the singles and doubles lineups.

Bloemendaal moved sophomore Chris Essick to Monette’s spot at No. 2 doubles alongside Bednarczyk. The pairing of sophomores Michael Sellitto and Elliott Yee also started at No. 3 doubles for the fifth and sixth times this season.

The changes in doubles were evident, as the Hoosiers lost both doubles points. This was the first time IU has lost back-to-back doubles points since the first week of February.

“Different combos at this time of year are tough,” Bloemendaal said. “I felt like early in the year we would have four or five strong doubles teams, and it never quite happened that way. And we got in this situation and it showed up.”

IBednarczyk was moved to No. 2 in singles, the first time he has competed that high in the lineup in his collegiate career. Bloemendaal also inserted Essick at No. 5 singles and Sellitto at No. 6.

Essick and Sellitto combined to go 4-0 this weekend despite their inexperience. The pair played a combined four singles matches before Friday.

“We got some opportunities for some guys to step up, and those two definitely did,” Bloemendaal said. “I think everybody is stepping up, it’s just at different paces.”

Bloemendaal said another factor in the tight loss against Minnesota was the crowd, or lack thereof.

“I wish we would have kept that crowd there until the very end,” Bloemendaal said. “A callout to Indiana fans out there — it would make a huge difference if we had all those guys there at the end of that one. There was a certain point in that match where it was a great atmosphere. If they could hang in there until the end, that would be great.”

IU fans only have one more opportunity to pledge their support, however, as IU plays five of its last six matches away from Bloomington.

Bloemendaal said he still firmly believes his team will finish the season strong.
“This team is going to make a late-season run,” Bloemendaal said. “I would not be surprised. I would not be surprised at all if they had a good April and play their best tennis going into the postseason.”