The IU men’s tennis team punched its ticket into the second round of the Big Ten Tournament Thursday afternoon with a 4-0 sweep of Michigan State.
The No. 5 seed and No. 43 ranked Hoosiers did not drop a set against the No. 12 seed Spartans, propelling themselves into a quarterfinal match-up against No. 37 Minnesota Golden Gophers.
The doubles team of sophomore Zac Brodney and senior Raheel Manji got the Hoosiers off to a strong start with a 6-1 doubles win. Senior Keivon Tabrizi and sophomore Bennett Crane then clinched the doubles point for the Hoosiers with a 7-5 win themselves.
In singles, every Hoosier won their first set while Brodney, freshman Andrew Redding and junior Antonio Cembellin closed out their matches within minutes of each other to put IU up 4-0.
With the victory already clinched for the Hoosiers, the remaining singles matches were left unfinished.
IU will now move on to face No. 4 seed Minnesota. IU defeated Minnesota earlier this season 4-3.
While the Golden Gophers will attempt to knock the Hoosiers out of the tournament for the second year in a row, IU will have the opportunity to upset Minnesota once more this season.
In the last meeting between the two, IU grabbed the doubles point but dropped the three matches against Minnesota’s ranked singles players. The Hoosiers found success with their younger guys, though, as sophomores Brodney and Crane each claimed a point and freshman Redding came up clutch to break the 3-3 tie with his three-set victory.
Minnesota still has three singles players ranked in the top 100, but the Hoosiers now have two of their own ranked players in No. 111 Manji and No. 120 Cembellin.
IU’s match will take place tomorrow at 11 a.m. with the winner advancing to play the winner of of No. 1 seed Ohio State and No. 8 seed Iowa.
Drew Frey
