In the fifth game of conference play on Mar. 20, Indiana men’s tennis faced off against No. 5 Ohio State. It was the Hoosiers’ first outdoor match of the year, and they came out swinging.
At No. 1 doubles, graduate student Michael Andre and sophomore Matteo Anonescu got out to a strong start which helped them win 6-3 over the No. 1 ranked doubles team of sophomore Nikita Filin and redshirt sophomore Brandon Carpico.
Right after their win, the new duo partners were kept the same. For the second straight match, Senior Jip van Assendelft and redshirt junior Sam Landau were broken up. Van Assendelft was paired with redshirt junior Facundo Yunis again where they lost 3-6.
At doubles three Landau and sophomore Braeden Gelletich defeated the No. 28 ranked doubles team of junior Aidan Kim and junior Bryce Nakashima 6-4, continuing the Hoosiers’ successful conference doubles play on the season.
Leading 1-0 in the match, Indiana needed to step it up at the singles position. In singles one, van Assendelft was overwhelmed by No. 27 ranked senior Jack Anthrop leading to a 2-6 0-6 loss, tying the match at 1-1.
Ohio State’s four ranked players proved to be too much throughout the whole match, but Junior Ben Pomeranets kept the first set close with a score of 4-6. However, Pomeranets couldn’t keep up in the second, losing 4-6 1-6.
Yunis was up against No. 9 Kim at singles two. He was competitive and won service games but Kim won both sets by a score of 6-4 6-3. This put Ohio State one point away from winning the match.
Andre played a near identical match as Yunis, but No. 16 ranked redshirt junior Preston Stearns outlasted him and won the match for the Buckeyes 6-4 6-3. Redshirt freshman Aidan Atwood and Braeden Gelletich’s matches were left unfinished with the Buckeyes winning the match 4-1 and putting Indiana at 7-7 overall.
Continuing their homestand, the Hoosiers were hosting the Penn State Nittany Lions on Sunday. The match, however, didn’t start as well as the last.
Van Assendelft and Yunis lost 4-6 at the doubles spot, marking their second straight loss as a duo. Andre and Antonescu kept the doubles streak going on the other hand with a 6-4 win putting it on Landau and Gelletich to secure the first point. The two got their second straight win on the weekend in a pretty even match that ended 6-4.
Indiana needed it’s singles players to step up following the loss to Ohio State, and Gelletich was ready for the challenge. He was the first to finish at singles four 6-3 6-3, putting the Hoosiers in the drivers seat with two more points needed.
Landau took down his opponent handily 6-3 6-2. The Hoosiers were just one win away from securing the match.
Freshman Aryan Badlani was defeated at the singles six spot 3-6 4-6, giving Indiana a scare. But Andre cleaned up his opponent 6-3 6-3, resulting in an Indiana 4-1 victory over Penn State.
After going 1-1 on the weekend, Indiana will stay at home and take on their rival Purdue on March 28 at the IU Tennis Center in Bloomington.
