In the last weekend of the regular season, Indiana men’s tennis fell just short of beating Michigan State on the road, losing 3-4, and fell to Michigan 1-4. The loss brought the Hoosiers to 10-12 on the season.
Indiana took the opening point against the Spartans despite the No. 2 doubles pairing of senior Jip van Assendelft and redshirt junior Facundo Yunis dropping the first set of the day 2-6. Redshirt junior Sam Landau and sophomore Braeden Gelletich righted the ship for the Hoosiers, winning convincingly 6-2.
With the No. 1 doubles matchup being the decider for who would earn the doubles point, graduate student Michael Andre and sophomore Matteo Antonescu continued their season dominance with a 6-2 win, improving their record to 8-0 together. Indiana held a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans didn’t waste any time tying the match up, however. Van Assendelft dropped another tiebreak in his first set, which marked the third straight week he’s lost a tiebreak. He dropped the second set as well 3-6, tying the match at one. Atwood was the next to lose a tiebreak, this time in the second set, causing him to lose 3-6, 6-7 to Michigan State sophomore Mitchell Sheldon and giving the Spartans an advantage.
They increased their lead to 3-1 following the conclusion of the singles five match. Sophomore Braedan Gelletich won the second set but couldn’t start or end the first and last sets strong, and he lost 2-6, 6-3, 2-6.
Michigan State had a cushion and only needed one more point to win the match. Redshirt junior Sam Landau wasn’t going to throw in the towel quite yet, however. He dominated the first and third sets, and brought the Hoosiers within one, winning 6-0, 1-6, 6-2.
Doubles four was the next match to end. After Yunis dropped his first set, he leveled the storm and his groundstrokes got more consistent. His opponent, junior Taym Alazmeh, fought hard but Yunis won 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, leaving it up to Andre to bring the Hoosiers above .500 on the season.
Andre went shot for shot with Michigan State sophomore Matthew Forbes and stole a service game in the first set that led to an early lead. But it was Forbes who got the best of Andre in the end, winning the next two sets and ultimately securing the Spartans win with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win.
In the final match of the regular season, Indiana fell in Ann Arbor, Michigan, after taking on Michigan on its senior day.
It started off with Yunis and van Assendelft at the No. 2 doubles spot. The two have struggled as a pair this year and were 2-5 coming into Sunday’s matchup. After losing against Michigan State two days prior, the duo didn’t perform any better. In the first match of the day to end, senior Bjorn Swenson and junior Alex Cairo took down the fading duo 6-3.
The No. 39-ranked doubles duo of Andre and Antonescu won points in their match, however, beating the No. 52-ranked doubles team of redshirt freshman Max Dahlin and freshman Pierce Shaya. Nonetheless, the Wolverines stole the doubles point with a 7-5 victory over Landau and Gelletich.
Following Andre’s win at doubles where he’s played well, he was struggling without the alleys. Andre only scraped off one game from No. 45-ranked Swenson, ending his regular season in a very swift manner 1-6, 0-6. Despite the Hoosiers trailing 2-0, Atwood gave them a spark. He won the first set 6-3, and was clicking in every way up 4-1 in the second before the match ended early from a default.
At No. 1 singles, Landau battled hard in the first set, but lost in a tiebreak before losing the second set 3-6. Michigan needed just one more point to end their season on a high note, and it did just that.
Senior Nicholas Steiglehner was too much for Yunis in the first set and carried enough of that momentum into the second set. He won 6-2, 7-5, ending the regular season for the Hoosiers, who now sit at 10-12 overall.
The Big Ten tournament will begin April 22, at Libbey Park in Ojai, California, where the No. 9-seeded Hoosiers will take on No. 8-seeded Oregon.
