After a successful start to the season with two road wins against Bryant and Dartmouth, IU men’s tennis is back in Bloomington for a busy weekend with three home matches.
In its second weekend of competition IU will take on Ball State, Eastern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago in the IU Tennis Center. The Hoosiers will have the chance to keep their winning streak on their home courts, which IU Coach Jeremy Wurztman said always helps put his team at ease.
“It is always nice to be at home,” Wurtzman said. “We are comfortable at these courts. We try to get as many fans as we can. It makes it a little bit smoother going into the match.”
The Hoosiers are playing one more match this weekend than they did in New Hampshire last week, but Wurtzman said he is confident the demanding physical training his players did during the offseason has helped their stamina.
On Friday afternoon IU will play Ball State for its first match of the weekend. Last season IU came out on top 4-0 against Ball State, but Wurtzman said this year’s matchup will not be an easy one.
“Ball State will definitely be a challenge for us,” Wurtzman said. “They have played a tough schedule already with three good matches, and they have some very good players on their team, so we are focusing on that match first and trying to prepare as well as we can to be ready for them.”
Since his arrival in December 2014 Wurtzman has never faced Eastern Illinois or Illinois-Chicago, both of which IU will play Sunday.
Freshman Bennett Crane has won all four of his matches so far this season and will be seeking to maintain the strong level of play he displayed during last week’s matches on the east coast.
Crane played at positions two and five in singles and twice at position three in doubles with freshman Zac Brodney last weekend and beat each of his opponents in straight sets.
“As long as I just stay within my abilities and play within my abilities I feel like I can keep getting wins for the team hopefully,” Crane said. “Help take us to another level that this team has not seen yet.”
The matchup against Ball State on Friday will begin at 6 p.m., and IU will begin its dual matchup against Eastern Illinois at 11 a.m. Saturday before playing Illinois-Chicago at 3 p.m.
“Having a good mindset going into each match and being disciplined,” Wurtzman said of the keys for the weekend. “Secondly is going to be the doubles point — that we can play good doubles and get leads going into the singles.”
