On Sunday, Indiana men’s tennis hosted the University of Southern Indiana for a double-header. The Hoosiers, winners of four straight matches, quickly defeated the Screaming Eagles to extend their winning streak to six matches.
In the first of two matches, the Hoosiers took the doubles point convincingly. The freshmen duo of Sam Landau and Luc Boulier won at No. 2 doubles, 6-1.
At No. 3 doubles, freshman Ekansh Kumar teamed up with fifth-year senior Mac Rogers to win 6-3. It was Rogers’ first match of the season for the Hoosiers.
“We wanted to get some different guys some opportunities to play,” head coach Jeremy Wurtzman said on Monday. “We thought Mac had been playing well in practice and deserved a chance.”
In singles, the Hoosiers took all six points, earning the 7-0 sweep of the Screaming Eagles. Boulier was one of the six Hoosiers to win in singles, his first singles match of the season.
“Luc was great. He was another guy we wanted to see get some more action,” Wurtzman said. “He did great with the opportunity.”
After Indiana dominated Southern Indiana in the first match of the day, the two teams took a 90-minute break before beginning the second match.
In the second match, both teams decided to begin with singles play. Doubles would only be played if the match was tied 3-3 after singles.
Doubles play was not necessary, however, as the Hoosiers rattled off four straight wins in singles to clinch a 4-0 win over Southern Indiana.
“We did our job and took care of business,” Wurtzman said. “You never want to overlook anybody, and I thought we did a good job of focusing on our opponent.”
Fifth-year senior Patrick Fletchall, junior Jagger Saylor, Landau and Kumar earned victories in singles to earn the Hoosiers the win.
Although they didn’t play together on Sunday, the duo of Fletchall and junior Ilya Tiraspolsky got some national recognition this past week. The duo is 3-0 in doubles on the season and received a No. 46 overall national ranking by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
“They’ve been great,” Wurtzman said. “They have goals this year and they aren’t even close to being finished yet.”
With the double-header sweep of Southern Indiana; the Hoosiers are now 8-1 on the season. Indiana is back in action on Friday, when Louisville visits the IU Tennis Center.
