Men's tennis splits home matches

The No. 61 IU men’s tennis team missed another opportunity for a signature win Sunday with a 4-1 loss to No. 41 Dartmouth, but rebounded with a 7-0 victory against Illinois State.

IU (7-7) did not drop a set in either singles or doubles against Illinois State (5-4).
Dartmouth’s (11-3) depth and experience proved too big an obstacle to overcome for the young Hoosiers.

 IU managed just one victory in singles and one victory in doubles play. Sunday was the first time the Hoosiers lost the doubles point during their last seven matches.

The Hoosiers could not recover, and Dartmouth defeated the struggling Hoosiers.

“What happened in Dartmouth happened way before the doubles point,” sophomore Samuel Monette said. “I think that we did not get ready the way we should have, and I think that the guys played more with their rackets than with their hearts.”

Monette said the team did not come out with the right energy against Dartmouth.
The Hoosiers were simply trying to do what was asked of them, and not playing with the passion it needed to win, Monette said.

The lone win for the Hoosiers against Dartmouth came from Monette, who is ranked No. 53 in the country in singles.

Other than Monette, none of the Hoosiers managed to find their footing for very long against Dartmouth.

Every player showed signs of winning throughout the match against Dartmouth, but none could string together enough consecutive points and games to win.

Bloemendaal said he believes his team will eventually learn how to come through in these types of situations

. He said that there is no magic solution to will solve everything — the team has to realize this can’t happen anymore for IU to have success.

Monette and some teammates were talking between matches when players started making typical excuses for the loss, Monette said.

He said they each discussed how they can improve, and how their teammates can improve in order to get better as a team.

Bloemendaal said in order for his Hoosier team to find ways to win, the team needs to strengthen its resolve.

“It’s very frustrating from the outside to watch. We had more than enough chances (against Dartmouth),”Bloemendaal said.

“I feel like they (Dartmouth) did a better job of being hungrier in key situations. It wasn’t much more than that, it wasn’t the level of play, and it’s just getting determined in those tough situations.”