Indiana men’s tennis enjoyed a successful start to the spring season Jan. 13, as the Cream and Crimson dominated from the first set to the last in their twin billing against Dayton University and the University of Toledo.
Indiana kicked things off against Dayton with a 5-2 victory, initiated by a sweep in the doubles matches. Senior Michael Andre and sophomore Sam Landau took a resounding 6-1 victory along with sophomore Luc Boulier and redshirt freshman Facundo Yunis winning 6-3.
Indiana used the momentum from the doubles victory to take care of business in singles, with three sweeps by Landau, Yunis and Andre to give the Hoosiers the 4 points they needed for victory.
The rest of the matches were extracurriculars with the win already in hand, and the Hoosiers added a win from senior Ilya Tiraspolsky, but the Flyers were able to squeak two late victories to close the gap to 5-2.
The Hoosiers replicated their early success in the latter half of the doubleheader against Toledo, taking another 5-2 victory and doubles sweep to give them the edge, this time from the pairs of Tiraspolsky and Andre, along with Yunis and graduate senior Carson Haskins.
The Rockets gave the Hoosiers more of a battle than the Flyers, with a 2-2 split in the first four singles matches. Indiana won the next set and clinched thanks to freshman Nikola Kolyachev winning a contested battle that finished with an 8-6 win in the third set. Sophomore Deacon Thomas added salt to the wound with a win in three sets to close out the match.
The pair of wins marks the second year in a row where the Hoosiers beat Dayton and Toledo at home, as they also won both matches 4-1 for the opening weekend of 2023. However, the rest of the season didn’t go as well as the strong beginning.
The Hoosiers finished 13-15 overall last spring and 1-8 in the Big Ten, headlined by a six-game losing streak to close out the season before exiting in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.
Although 2023 was a disappointing season for IU tennis, the team returns lots of players who are now more experienced, including five seniors and Sam Landau, who was third team All-Big Ten as a freshman and posted a 13-4 record in singles. There has also been an injection of life from the freshman pair of Facundo Yunis and Nikola Kolyachev, who contributed 4 points over the weekend.
The Hoosiers will continue their nonconference schedule for the foreseeable future, including a trip down south to face the University of Memphis on Jan. 21 and another road match against Dartmouth college on Jan. 26. Thereafter, Indiana will return home for a four-game set against Ball State University, Bellarmine University, Marquette University and Boise State University from Jan. 31-Feb. 2.
Follow reporter Matt Rudella (@mattrudellaIDS) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s tennis season.
