Last Tuesday IU men’s tennis earned a motivational boost after becoming a top-50 team. That boost became noticeable Sunday at Washington.
After losing four matchups in a row against top-level opponents, the Hoosiers went far away from home to beat their first higher-ranked opponent this season.
No. 45 IU defeated No. 32 Washington Sunday afternoon 4-3 at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle.
IU Coach Jeremy Wurtzman said his team’s performance was good overall in both singles and doubles and the consecutive losses were not an example of his team’s level since its opponents were all potential round-of-sixteen contenders at the NCAA Tournament.
Huskie fans filled the stands for the entire length of the matchup, yet the Hoosier players supporting their teammates on the side were louder than the home fans.
Junior Raheel Manji was one of the players on the side supporting his teammates. Against Washington, IU’s usual No. 1 singles and doubles player did not play.
However, his absence was overshadowed by the performances the Hoosiers had in the match.
In the beginning of the matchup, IU clinched the doubles point after wins at positions two and three.
Junior Keivon Tabrizi played his doubles match this time with sophomore Afonso Salgado and won 6-1 playing at position three. Wurtzman said he was satisfied with the performance given by both Tabrizi and Salgado to secure the doubles point in the first part of the matchup.
The freshman duo of Bennett Crane and Zac Brodney got another win this season after coming on top 6-2 at No. 2 doubles.
Both freshmen took their positive momentum into their singles matches. Brodney came up on top 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, to win IU’s first singles point.
Similarly, Crane, with strong shots followed by intense celebrations, won his match 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to put the Hoosiers one point away from victory.
Wurtzman said it is good to have Crane and Brodney achieving good results, but overall it is the entire Hoosier side that has been pushing the team forward this season.
To secure the eighth Hoosier win of the season, sophomore No. 125 Antonio Cembellin came back from being a set down to win his matchup at position two 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Cembellin repeated his usual aggressive shots and active feet in the matchup to add up another victory to his singles play and bring his record to 7-2.
The Hoosiers will return to playing in Bloomington next weekend to face No. 24 Cornell on Friday, and on Sunday, IU will be playing its second Big Ten matchup against rival Purdue. Both matches will be at the IU Tennis Center.
