Men's tennis drops to tenth in Big Ten

No. 59 IU entered a weekend in Michigan with an opportunity to rise as high as the sixth seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament. Instead, IU dropped to 10th in the standings after losses at No. 51 Michigan 5-2 and Michigan State 6-1.

IU started slowly in both matches losing both doubles points.

IU also started slowly in singles play in both matches. Against Michigan IU lost 4-of-6 first sets, leading to just two wins in singles, by sophomore Samuel Monette and senior Dimitrije Tasic.

Against Michigan State IU also lost 4-of-6 singles sets and won just one singles match courtesy of sophomore Daniel Bednarczyk.

Another commonality in both matches was IU’s struggles at the bottom of the lineup. Sophomore Elliott Yee went 0-2 at the No. 5 position. IU also incurred two losses at the No. 6 position with a loss from freshman Stefan Lugonjic at Michigan and from sophomore Chris Essick at Michigan State.

The two losses also made winning the Big Ten Tournament a near necessity for a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The top 64 teams in the country qualify for the NCAA Tournament. IU was ranked No. 60 at the time of selection last season and missed out on the tournament altogether. IU is likely to fall in the latest rankings after these two losses.

IU’s first match in the Big Ten Tournament will be at 2 p.m. Thursday against Minnesota in East Lansing, Minn. The Hoosiers defeated Minnesota 4-3 in Bloomington earlier this season.

-Michael Hughes