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The Indiana Daily Student

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Indiana men’s tennis continues doubles success at Clemson Invite last weekend

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The Indiana men’s tennis team competed in its fourth preseason tournament over the weekend in Clemson, South Carolina. The team faced off against the host, Clemson University, along with Liberty University and Mississippi State University.

The tournament was played in a dual match format. Each team went head to head in three doubles matches and six singles matches to simulate regular season play for all four teams. 

Indiana competed against Liberty on Friday, winning three matches. The doubles team including senior Carson Haskins and junior Luka Vukovic won with a score of 6-3. Sophomore Ilya Tiraspolsky was victorious in a close No. 5 singles match, winning 7-5, 6-4. Senior Vikash Singh completed a comeback in the No. 6 singles position with a score of 3-6, 6-4 and 6-2.

The Hoosiers faced the Clemson Tigers on Saturday and won two competitive doubles matches.  Senior Patrick Fletchall and sophomore Jagger Saylor came out on top in the No. 3 spot, winning 6-3. 

The top-ranked team of sophomores, Michael Andre and Ilya Tiraspolsky, won their match after Clemson withdrew due to injury.

On the final day of tournament play, Indiana went head-to-head with Mississippi State. The doubles teams of Fletchall/Saylor and Haskins/Vukovic were victorious for the second time during the weekend. Singh won again in his singles match.

Head coach Jeremy Wurtzman was impressed with the progress his team made throughout the three-day tournament.

“I thought we got better each day,” Wurtzman said. “The first two days we were just getting used to the competition, but I think on Sunday we played our best tennis against Mississippi State.”

Last year, the Bulldogs finished No. 20 in the nation. Wurtzman believed competing well against one of the top teams in the country was an impressive feat and a major success of the weekend for the Hoosiers.

Wurtzman said that competitive matches in the fall help his players gain confidence going into the regular season.

“Eventually, if you put yourself out there enough and one or two matches go your way, then you start believing more that you can beat these teams,” Wurtzman said. “That’s the biggest thing — the mental part.”

One of the reasons why Indiana has fared well against such high levels of competition is its impressive doubles performances. The team has implemented a stable, dominant mentality when it comes to taking the court against another team’s pairing.

“We’re specific where we want to play doubles, and that’s being really aggressive and playing on our terms,” Wurtzman said. “We seem to really understand that right now, so we’re going in with confidence that we know how we want to play.”

Indiana will compete in the Louisville Invite starting this Friday in Louisville, Kentucky, as it nears the end of preseason play.

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