Indiana men’s and women’s tennis teams opened their individual seasons over the past week at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships. The men played in Tulsa, Oklahoma, while the women played in Cary, North Carolina.
The Hoosiers brought seven players to the tournaments — five men and two women — with senior Jip van Assendelft, senior Sam Landau, junior Ben Pomeranets, redshirt junior Facundo Yunis, and graduate student Michael Andre on the men’s side, plus senior Nicole Teodosescu and freshman Alessandra Teodosescu representing the women’s team.
Yunis and van Assendelft made the main draw for men’s doubles. The pair made the Round of 16 in the NCAA Doubles Championship last season, but Wednesday was a different story. They lost 4-6, 6-3, 11-13 to South Methodist University junior Trevor Svajda and sophomore Georgi Georgiev.
Andre and Landau were paired up for pre-qualifying doubles and seeded sixth, where they found success early in the tournament. They defeated the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville double of sophomore Brendan Boland and senior Marino Jakic 7-6(3), 6-3 on Saturday. The pair returned Sunday and defeated Auburn University redshirt junior Nicholas Heng and sophomore Joseph Phillips in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-3.
After advancing to the qualifying round of the tournament, Andre and Landau were then matched against University of Pennsylvania senior Manfredi Graziani and junior Aaron Sandler, who were seeded ninth. The Hoosiers fought in the three-set matchup but lost in the super tiebreaker 5-7, 7-6(3), 10-12.
Four Indiana players competed in pre-qualifying singles. Pomeranets went 14-14 in singles play last season, but lost 1-6, 1-6 to University of Arizona sophomore Filip Gustafsson, who was seeded No. 1 and won 18 singles contests last season. However, he did win his matchup against DePaul University graduate student Alejandro Gandini 7-6(1), 6-1 in the pre-qualifying singles consolation.
Van Assendelft took the opening set against No. 10 seeded Arkansas sophomore Gabriel Elicha Navas, but ultimately lost in three, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6.
Yunis and Andre were other singles competing and won their first-round matchups. Yunis was seeded No. 21 and won against Duke University sophomore Saahith Jayaraman 6-3, 6-3 before losing to Wisconsin sophomore Edouard Aubert 4-6, 7-6(7), 4-6 in the second round. Andre withdrew in the second round after winning against Mississippi State University senior Michal Novansky 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(5).
Landau — who returned to Indiana after playing last season at Duke — was seeded 10th in the qualifying singles round. He was ranked as high as No. 37 in the ITA singles rankings last season and continued that momentum into a 6-4, 6-0 win over Louisiana State University sophomore Andrej Loncarevic. Landau then lost to Texas Christian University junior Duncan Chan 2-6, 3-6 in the second round.
On the women’s side, the Teodosescu sisters competed against senior Reece Carter and junior Jermine Sherif of Washington in the pre-qualifying doubles first round. The Ventimiglia, Italy, natives did not find much success as they lost in straight sets, 1-6, 2-6.
The pairs’ pre-qualifying singles matches did not go much better, as they both lost in the first round. Nicole lost 1-6, 3-6 to Mississippi State freshman Thessy Ntondele Zinga, before losing again in the pre-qualifying consolation bracket against Pennsylvania sophomore Lara Stojanovski 3-6, 4-6. Alessandra was defeated 3-6, 6-3, 0-6 by Texas Tech University senior Mariia Hlahola.
Indiana women’s tennis will look to improve in front of a home crowd Oct. 3-5, as the IU Tennis Center hosts the Hoosier Classic. Men’s tennis will now continue its fall schedule at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic Thursday-Sunday and the Notre Dame Invitational Friday-Sunday.
