This weekend's men's tennis tournament may not have a huge impact on the rest of the season, but it was significant.
Heading into the weekend, head coach Randy Bloemendaal had no idea how well the freshmen would play. I believe he was high on Isade Juneau (Quebec) and he performed well. But Josh MacTaggart, another freshman from the U.K., stole the show.
MacTaggart was really untested throughout the weekend, winning each of his matches in straight sets -- including one against Juneau. Bloemendaal said MacTaggart "really surprised" him with the way he played. Stephen van Gils, MacTaggart's roommate, did not play in the tournament. Sources tell me that the coaching staff thinks van Gils will have greatest impact on the team as a freshman, but MacTaggart certainly showed that he is in the conversation.
The fourth freshman, Tommy Aliber, didn't have a spectacular tournament but the 6-foot-3 Missouri product won a couple of matches. Aliber led his Missouri high school team to a state championship last year so he knows how to win. He is one of the only freshman that has played team tennis in the past.
Junior Santiago Gruter was also solid for the Hoosiers. He said that he is really trying to work on staying positive and there were several situations where he almost lost his cool throughout the weekend. Each time, though, he was able to refocus and win the match.
"I still have a lot of area of my game that I can improve on, but this is a start," Gruter said after his championship match against Xavier's Bobby Deye.
The Hoosiers will be back in action next weekend at the University of Virginia Plus One tournament.
For those of you who got out to see some of the action this weekend, what did you think? Who looked good? How excited are you for the rest of the season?
