Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support the IDS in College Media Madness! Donate here March 24 - April 8.
Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

IU men's tennis prepares for weekend matches on winning streak

January was the last time IU went into a match with a winning streak. IU had beaten Virginia Commonwealth University, Marquette and Ball State before facing No. 35 Washington, which was beat at home.

The Hoosiers will go on the road for the last time in conference play when they face Nebraska and Iowa on Friday and Sunday.

“I think the last time we did that was when we beat VCU and Marquette, and then we went out to beat Washington,” IU Coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. “I think that’s going to help. It’s definitely motivating to win matches.”

IU won against Nebraska and Iowa when it faced them in Bloomington last season, and Wurtzman said he feels the team knows it is able to beat these teams again.

After last weekend’s victory against then-No. 33 Penn State, Wurtzman said it was a good start to the end of the season and the victory should give his team confidence going into this weekend.

Senior Daniel Bednarczyk is also confident going into this weekend’s matchups and is looking to win the rest of the matches to close the season.

“I think the rest of the season we know the matches are winnable matches,” Bednarczyk said. “Don’t get me wrong, they’re still good teams.”

Wurtzman also said he does not want the team going into any match thinking the team can simply stroll to a victory.

“I’m not really expecting anything except going out there and playing a high level and having a good attitude and preparation,” Wurtzman said. “I don’t want to go into any match thinking we can win.”

Coming off last weekend’s victories, Wurtzman said the whole season needed to be put into perspective. He said taking a lot of the losses against higher-ranked opponents on the road helped the Hoosiers last weekend and could help them this weekend as well.

“We still have the Big Ten Championships in Minnesota. It’s not the last trip, but obviously there’s been a lot of travel,” Wurtzman said. “We’ve faced a lot of different time zones, and we’ve been through a lot.”

Nebraska goes into Friday’s matchup against IU after a six-game losing streak, while Iowa, which will play Purdue on Friday, is on a two-game losing streak.

Wurtzman said he does not take anything for granted because any Big Ten team is a good team and spoke about the things he has said all season that are key to winning matches.

“We are going in knowing that they have a bunch of good players that can play at a high level,” Wurtzman said. “Winning doubles points, winning first sets, trying to get leads and taking away their confidence early in the match is key.”

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe