The Indiana men’s tennis team opened its 2023 regular season on Sunday, as they welcomed the University of Dayton and the University of Toledo to Bloomington. The Hoosiers took down the Flyers and the Rockets by a score of 4-1 in both matches.
The Hoosiers' first opponent on Sunday morning was the Flyers. Senior Luka Vukovic paired up with freshman Ekansh Kumar to defeat junior Ron Hiryur and senior Max DeCurtins at No. 3 Doubles. It was followed by the freshman tandem of Sam Landau and Luc Boulier who teamed up to take down sophomore Eric Perkowski and senior Georgi Mavrodiev at No. 2 Doubles to secure the doubles point for Indiana.
“Sam and Luc had a good fall, which is awesome,” head coach Jeremy Wurtzman said.
Landau and Boulier enter their freshmen season as the only Hoosier duo to be ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, currently at No. 43.
In singles play, Kumar, Landau and junior Ilya Tiraspolsky all won, giving the Hoosiers the 4-1 win.
The young Hoosiers saw two of their talented freshmen win singles matches to help clinch the win over Dayton.
“We had some new guys out there.” Wurtzman said. “Everyone is a little bit nervous and anxious to play that first match.”
The second opponent of the day was Toledo, and despite winning the doubles point en route to a 4-1 victory in their first match of the day, the team wasn’t satisfied.
“We felt like the first match we didn’t play that great in doubles,” Wurtzman said.
The team responded, winning all three doubles matches against Toledo and earning the doubles point.
Using the momentum from their sweep in doubles play, the Hoosiers were able to close out Toledo in singles play without much trouble.
Tiraspolsky and Kumar got their second singles wins of the day - at No. 4 Singles and No. 6 Singles respectively - to get the Hoosiers their first two singles points. Vukovic then got the third and final singles point for the Hoosiers by defeating junior Adam Kovac at No. 2 Singles.
"We’re learning to win again,” Wurtzman said.
Wurtzman said Indiana hadn’t played a match since Nov. 4.
The only Hoosier to struggle on an otherwise solid day for the team was the Hoosiers fifth-year senior Patrick Fletchall. Fletchall, teaming up with Tiraspolsky, won at No. 1 Doubles against Toledo, but lost both of his singles matches on Sunday.
“Patrick, he had his hands full, he just didn’t get a good start,” Wurtzmand said. “Every match that he plays up there (at No. 1 Singles) is gonna be very competitive.”
Wurtzman and the team weren’t concerned however, as Indiana flexed its depth early in the season against Dayton and Toledo.
“We have a lot of guys who can play, it was great to see guys throughout the lineup step up and play well,” Wurtzman said. “Our depth is gonna be one of our main strengths this year.”
The Hoosiers are back in action Friday, Jan. 20 as they are set to take on No. 25 Middle Tennessee State University.
“It’s gonna be tough,” Wurtzman said. “It will be great for our young group to play in that environment.”
With the wins over Dayton and Toledo, Indiana is off to a 2-0 start to their 2023 campaign.
