The Indiana men’s tennis got mixed results as they traveled to Louisville, Kentucky over the weekend to participate in the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships.
Fifth-year senior Patrick Fletchall, senior Luka Vukovic, juniors Jagger Saylor, Michael Andre and Ilya Tiraspolsky and freshmen Sam Landau, Ekansh Kumar and Luc Boulier represented the Hoosiers at the five-day event.
The freshmen all had successful tournaments for the Hoosiers in their first regional.
Landau won his first two games, including a win over Joubert Klopper of Vanderbilt, the No. 59 ranked singles player in the country, before losing in the round of 32.
“It was great to see, we were very impressed with Sam,” head coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. “He definitely proved how good he can play, and it was awesome to see him step up in some pressure moments and really win some big matchups, the future is bright with Sam.”
Landau also had success in the doubles draw alongside Boulier. The duo went 3-1 at the tournament, their run ending in the quarterfinals. Along the way, the freshmen tandem took down the No. 1 doubles seed.
[Related: Indiana men’s tennis concludes weekend at Spartan Invite and ITA All-American Championship]
Kumar, another freshman, went 1-1 in the singles draw, however the one win came against the reigning Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in Carlos Vicente.
“He’s a good little player,” Wurtzman said. “Once he gets cruising, he’s tough to play.”
Kumar combined forces with Andre — who went 2-1 in the singles draw — and made it to the quarterfinals in the doubles draw before falling to a talented duo from Louisville.
“It’s getting better, there’s a lot to learn,” Wurtzman said about the freshmen. “They were able to play well even with everything being so new.”
The upperclassmen did not fare as well for the Hoosiers. Saylor made it to the round of 16 in the consolation singles draw after losing in his opening round match. Saylor, and doubles partner Vukovic, only managed one win in the doubles draw.
Patrick Fletchall and Ilya Tiraspolsky had disappointing weekends for the Hoosiers.
“We were expecting some big things,” Wurtzman said. “I think they put some pressure on themselves.”
Fletchall went 2-1 in the singles draw, while Tiraspolsky went 1-1. The two then lost their first and only doubles match in what was Fletchall’s last appearance at regionals.
“We know we’re going to get his best tennis in the (spring),” Wurtzman said about Tiraspolsky.
Despite some good individual and doubles performances for the Hoosiers, they know more work needs to be done.
“We had some draws that we could have gone a little bit further with some of the guys and made some deeper runs,” Wurtzman said.
The Hoosiers have two more tournaments lined up for their fall season. The Notre Dame Invitational begins Oct. 28 and runs through Oct. 30.
