There is not much time to relax for the IU men’s tennis team after its midweek victory against Louisville.
On Wednesday the Hoosiers were able to recover from losing their first doubles point of the season and capitalize on four singles matches to get their seventh straight win of the season. However, this weekend presents a bigger challenge for them.
IU will go on the road Friday to face No. 17 Illinois for its Big Ten opener. On Sunday, IU will be host to No. 15 Kentucky at the IU Tennis Center.
“They are two of the best teams in the country,” IU Coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. “They only rank 25 teams, and they are both in the top 25. We are going into that match with a lot of confidence. Hopefully we can put some doubt in their minds with our play and our preparation.”
Last time the Hoosiers and the Fighting Illini met was March 2016 in Bloomington, when Illinois was ranked No. 10 and came out on top 4-0 after winning the doubles point and positions two, four and five singles.
The current IU players that played in that matchup were seniors Stefan Lugonjic and Matthew McCoy; junior Raheel Manji, who was selected as Big Ten’s Tennis Athlete of the Week on Tuesday; and sophomores Antonio Cembellin and Afonso Salgado.
Similarly, the Hoosiers came up short against the Wildcats at the IU Tennis Center, 6-1, in February last year.
Wurtzman said his team’s perfect record plays a role in the team’s morale going into tough matchups.
“It shows our hard work, dedication and commitment to this team,” Wurtzman said. “I think that is what the IU players see. They are reaping the rewards and the success of hard work.”
This season Illinois is 2-2 overall, and its match against IU is also its first of the Big Ten season. In its last matchup the Fighting Illini lost to No. 7 North Carolina, 5-2, at home.
Currently the Fighting Illini have three ranked singles players. No. 21 Aron Hiltzik, No. 31 Aleks Vukic, and No. 123 Aleksandar Kovacevic all figure to present challenges for IU in the singles matchups.
Kentucky is 7-2 overall and will be playing Ohio State on Friday prior to its matchup against IU.
The Wildcats also have ranked singles players. Ryotaro Matsumura and William Bushamuka are ranked Nos. 17 and 33, respectively.
The Hoosiers will take on the Fighting Illini at 6 p.m. Friday. On Sunday, IU will have the support of its fans at home when Kentucky comes to Bloomington for a noon match.
“I think we are going to try to regroup and recover well for those matches,” junior Keivon Tabrizi said. “We believe that we can go there and beat these ranked teams. We feel good about both matches so hopefully we can come away with both of them.”
