IU entered the weekend with an undefeated record, but in battles against a pair of ranked teams, the Hoosiers fell despite some tightly contested individual matchups.
On Friday IU came up short and lost 5-2 against No. 17 Illinois on the road . Two days later in its return to the IU Tennis Center, IU suffered its first home loss of the season against No. 15 Kentucky by a final of 4-0.
“Overall against Illinois and Kentucky, two prominent programs and very talented players, I think we held our own,” IU Coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. “Moving forward there is a lot we can gain from this and still build off a successful season.”
In the first Big Ten match of the season against the Fighting Illini, the Hoosiers got the doubles point after effective play by the pairs at positions one and two.
Juniors Raheel Manji and Keivon Tabrizi won their match at position one, 7-5, and senior Stefan Lugonjic and sophomore Antonio Cembellin came out on top, 6-4, at position two.
During the singles play, freshman Bennett Crane at position six was the only Hoosier who secured a win. Crane came back from being a set down and finished with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Illinois had three nationally ranked singles players that got the best of IU at positions one, two and five.
In those three singles matches, IU battled and took the match to three sets, played by sophomore Oliver Sec, sophomore Antonio Cembellin and senior Matthew McCoy.
“Friday night was an intense match that could have gone either way,” Wurtzman said. “We were one set away actually from winning because three of the matches were three sets.”
On Sunday the Hoosiers again had another intense matchup with full stands of both IU and Kentucky fans.
The Wildcats got the doubles point by winning at positions one and two with a score of 6-3 on both courts. The Hoosier freshman duo of Crane and Zac Brodney won at position three, 6-3.
In singles the Hoosiers fell at positions two, five and six in straight sets. At No. 2 singles, Tabrizi matched up against the No. 17 singles player in the country, sophomore Ryotaro Matsumura of Kentucky.
As soon as the Wildcats capitalized at position two singles for the overall match win, they decided that they were not going to continue playing the three matches that were still ongoing.
The Hoosiers had momentum going forward in each of the three matchups and were leading in them, but the 4-0 advantage for the Wildcats had secured the win.
Up next for the Hoosiers is another home match, and IU will seek to get back on the winning track against Memphis on Friday.
“We've got to rest up,” Wurtzman said. “Get our bodies, get our minds going positive and then really gear up for Friday night against Memphis. It is going to be a great match that we get to play on our courts. They are an NCAA Tournament team, and we are excited to play them.”
