Indiana men’s tennis continues its fall season this Thursday at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional in Louisville, Kentucky. Matches will be at the University of Louisville and Bellarmine University. Eight Hoosiers will participate in the five-day event which will see players from 22 different schools compete.
Fifth-year senior Patrick Fletchall, senior Luka Vukovic, juniors Jagger Saylor, Michael Andre and Ilya Tiraspolsky are the upperclassmen making the trip to Louisville for the Hoosiers. Additionally, freshmen Sam Landau, Ekansh Kumar and Luc Boulier will participate as well.
The tournament is an event similar to the ITA All-American Championship the Hoosiers competed in last week. The main difference, however, is a full consolation draw for the singles bracket.
Unlike some of the tournaments earlier this fall, the coaching staff is placing more emphasis on the results this weekend in Louisville.
“Without a doubt, regionals is probably the tournament of the fall you want to do well in,” Murray said.
The main doubles draw will feature 64 players and the main singles draw will see 128, with the first round of both beginning on Thursday. Each of the Hoosiers eight athletes will compete in both the doubles and singles portions of the event.
A tandem of freshmen, Boulier and Landau will challenge a duo from Northern Kentucky University. Fletchall will combine forces with Tiraspolsky, while Saylor and Vukovic will team up. Andre and Kumar are the fourth and final doubles pairing for the Hoosiers.
Fletchall and Tiraspolsky kick-off the singles draw for the Hoosiers at 11 a.m. Thursday while Vukovic plays at 12:30 p.m. Boulier, Andre and Landau all play at 2 p.m.
Saylor and Kumar are the last to play in the first round at 3:30 p.m. Kumar drew a tough first round matchup against the reigning Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year: Carlos Vicente.
“We’ve had some success in regionals in the past,” Murray said. “We’ve got a couple boys that have the ability to make some runs this weekend.”
The Hoosiers know they will have to play well in order to earn themselves a spot in future tournaments.
“Nothing motivates you like the fear of not playing,” Murray said.
The team has two more competitions in the fall season before a break in December as they get ready for the spring season.
