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(08/23/12 9:25pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Somehow explore all of campus and town? Meet some of Bloomington's neighbors.INDIANAPOLIS70 minutes northwestFollow State Road 37 north out of town to reach this bustling metropolis, the capital and largest city in Indiana.The Circle City might be best known for its passion for sports, with the Colts (NFL), Pacers (NBA) and Indians (Triple-A baseball) calling downtown home. On the west side, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway plays host to The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the Indianapolis 500, in addition to NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 each year.Indianapolis has plenty to offer outside of athletics, however. Those looking to shop will find a welcoming place, with malls scattered throughout the city — perhaps none more chic than the Fashion Mall on the city’s north side.For those in search of a younger, more hip crowd — or simply some awesome food — the near-north side’s Broad Ripple Village is perfect. The closest thing to Bloomington in Indy, Broad Ripple has garnered a reputation for being artsy and fun with fairs and bars all around.NASHVILLE, IND.30 minutes eastArt enthusiasts will find Nashville to be a small slice of heaven — the Brown County Art Gallery, Brown County Art Guild and T.C. Steele State Historic Site all house paintings past and present by top artists from around the state.The town’s artistic spirit draws inspiration from nearby Brown County State Park, which offers some of the most spectacular views and plentiful wildlife in the Hoosier state — which may be explored by foot, mountain bike or even by horse, all on the park’s extensive trail system.If you’re a music buff, catch the Lloyd Wood Show at Mike’s Dance Barn just outside town or the world’s oldest continuous running bluegrass festival at Bill Monroe’s Music Park every June.COLUMBUS, IND.60 minutes eastWidely renowned for its bold architecture, Columbus makes for an off-beat destination as unique as it is inspiring. While the south-central Indiana town of 40,000 might not seem like an ideal location for architectural innovation, it has a global reputation. The Chicago Tribune has referred to Columbus as “a smalltown architectural mecca,” and Smithsonian Magazine similarly complimented it as a “veritable museum of modern architecture.”Whatever name visitors choose to assign to the town, they can explore it and judge for themselves on a guided bus tour — but those with limited time should be sure to check out First Christian Church, North Christian Church and Mabel McDowell Adult Education Center, all of which have been designated National Historic Landmarks.FRENCH LICK, IND.80 minutes southNestled in the rural stretch of land between Bloomington and the Ohio River, French Lick might seem an unlikely spot for a resort town. However, the historic settlement, once a French trading post, boasts luxury hotels, a large casino, three golf courses and Big Splash Adventure Water Park, making it a perfect family getaway.Nearby Pakota Lake, especially popular during the summer, provides a picturesque backdrop for aquatic activities of all types. For a change of pace and mode of transportation, try the French Lick Scenic Railway, which takes passengers well into Hoosier National Forest and even features mock “train robberies” on select weekends.
(07/19/12 12:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the northern Chicago neighborhood of Wrigleyville, where the Cubs reign supreme, fans often find comfort in the reassuring refrain “There’s always next year.” No matter how forgettable the prior season for the “Lovable Losers,” Cubs nation can take solace in knowing that each and every April presents a clean slate and another shot at breaking a World Series drought more than a century in the making. In only a few weeks’ time, former IU diver Christina Loukas will mount her second challenge for a gold medal, knowing full well that a shot at diving’s Holy Grail — her “next year” — will not come again until 2016. “Four years come down to a few minutes,” Christina’s mom, Patty Loukas, said. “It’s quite humbling. But we’re very, very ecstatic and thrilled for her. She’ll always have the title of two-time Olympian under her belt.”Regardless of the fate awaiting her in London, Christina, the standout athlete in a large Greek family full of them, will bring a boisterous contingent of familial support across the pond and have plenty of backing stateside. “The neighborhood, our church, the Greek community — everyone involved has been tremendous,” Patty said. “(IU Diving) Coach Jeff Huber is very supportive. Even her old coaches at Deerfield High School have been great. The whole Olympic thing is surreal. I’d never been to the Olympics until Christina made it, and I hate to sound trite, but it’s unbelievable. We feel so blessed.”Among those who will make the transatlantic trip are Patty, who attends all of her daughter’s meets, and Stacey Loukas , Christina’s sister. In Beijing four years ago, the two were so vocal in cheering Christina on her way to a ninth-place finish that they were both mic’d by television crews. “There were 15 of us at Beijing pulling for Christina,” Stacey said. “My friends here in the states said they could hear us on TV from their couches. This time around, there should be 30 to 40 of us. We’ll be loud, I can guarantee you.”“The athlete I always wanted to be” While most north siders’ Cubs fandom is simply a matter of geography, the connection between the Loukas family and Chicago’s National League outfit runs deeper. George Loukas, Christina’s father, owns the Cubby Bear, a fixture of Wrigleyville. When his daughter secured her place in this summer’s Olympics, the popular bar displayed a congratulatory message on the digital marquee that sits just below the neon Cubby Bear insignia.“That was so cool,” Christina said. “I have the picture up in my living room. I’m so fortunate. Everybody has been so supportive, from the Chicago Fire Department to people I’ve never even met.”A fit family if ever there were one, the Loukas clan alone boasts four college football players, including Angelo Loukas, who played at Northwestern and for the Buffalo Bills, and George, who played at Southern Illinois. Yet Christina’s agility and discipline are of such a caliber that George said of his daughter, “She’s the athlete I always wanted to be.”“The diver,” as Christina has become affectionately known by her younger, admiring cousins, was thrown into athletics from a tender age. However, her mom gives her daughter credit for finding the will within to achieve at a high level, a sentiment Stacey echoed.“We weren’t expected to get scholarships — we all just had fun with it,” Stacey said. “Our parents always had us playing football in the backyard and throwing balls through tires. To this day, all of us first cousins always play flag football or some other sport when we all get together, even in our 30s. But my sister has that elite ability the rest of us don’t have.”On a getaway in Vancouver one summer, the family decided to try fly fishing for the first time. While Stacey hooked her own arm with the line and others ran into similar struggles, Christina commanded the rod with such skill that a bystander downstream might have mistaken her for an extra in A River Runs Through It. The instructor told Christina, who was making her fly fishing debut, that she had the look of a veteran, prompting laughs on the opposite shore from her unsurprised family. “We have always been super competitive, whether it’s video games or board games,” Stacey said. “We pushed each other a lot growing up, but we’ve also supported her since day one. We knew she had incredible talent and needed to put it to good use.” The Magnificent Seven One of four siblings, Christina showcased the raw athletic talent that would eventually propel her to elite competition.At three, she flipped and flopped her way down the hallways in the family home to the amusement of her on-looking grandparents. Her parents, recognizing her precocity, placed her in gymnastics. As she grew, so did her ability and discipline. By the time she hit 12, she was spending four hours a day after school honing her skill set as a gymnast. Rigorous though the schedule was, she still found time to catch a glimpse of and find inspiration from the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team, a group of girls as uncommonly athletic and regimented as herself. “I remember watching the 1996 Olympics and the ‘Magnificent Seven,’” Christina said. “I loved every single one of those girls: Kerri Strug, Dominique Moceanu, Dominique Dawes. I thought to myself, ‘I want to be in the Olympics.’”Though she continued to excel, she soon ditched the mat and the balance beam for the pool and the diving board. The decision, coupled with her abandonment of basketball and soccer, allowed her to concentrate fully on her budding future in the world of diving, where coaches piqued her interest by telling her that her ceiling was the same stage the Magnificent Seven had used to captivate a nation — the Summer Olympics. “The Diver” ascendsChristina cruised to several honors during a decorated high school career, including Illinois Swimmer/Diver of the Year in 2003. Despite the accolades, she said it wasn’t until she enrolled at IU that she began to realize her potential. “I knew that moving to Indiana was the best thing for me, that I’d finally be putting in the time and effort I should be,” she said. “I had full confidence in Coach Huber in getting me to the level I wanted to go to. My training wasn’t intense before college, but it was totally different at IU. I went from training four to six days a week, twice a day — and I got the results I wanted.”The results speak for themselves: after a promising freshman campaign that saw her earn Big Ten Diver of the Year honors and three All-America certificates at the NCAAs, she won national titles in the 1-meter event her junior and senior seasons, the latter of which she chose to redshirt to prepare for the Olympic Trials and a chance to compete in Beijing. To book her place on Team USA’s envoy to the Forbidden City, Christina would have to finish near the top of a deep, talented field. To her surprise, she placed first, launching herself off the 3-meter springboard and into IU — and U.S. — diving history. “I was completely shocked that I made the team,” Christina said. “I wasn’t looking at the scoreboard at all during the competition. I ran over and hugged Jeff Huber and started crying because I was so happy, excited, shocked .”In retrospect, she credits the unexpected success to her time in Bloomington.“I owe my first Olympics to the (IU) team, the program, Coach Huber and everyone there,” Christina said.Though she placed ninth in Beijing, she gained invaluable experience on the international scene and the most prestigious stage in her sport. Burnout, then renewed beliefSoon thereafter, however, it became unclear whether she would ever draw upon that experience again. Exhausted by the grueling grind of seemingly ceaseless training, she decided to step away from the slog and reassess her priorities. “I burned out after the Olympics; it had become a never-ending season,” Christina said. “I started having mental blocks with diving. It had gotten really frustrating, and I wasn’t enjoying the sport anymore. After the season, I just decided to step away from the sport and see if I wanted to keep doing it. I realized I had so many more goals to accomplish.”To help make those goals more attainable, she moved in 2010 to The Woodlands, Texas, and enlisted the expertise of Ken Armstrong, a former Canadian Olympic diver turned U.S. Olympic coach. Patty said that Armstrong, who had already guided American Laura Wilkinson to three Olympic berths and a gold medal in 2000, came out of semi-retirement to strike up a partnership with her daughter.“Kenny has made me have a different mindset,” Christina said. “Before I moved down here, he told me that I should only come down if my goal is to win a gold medal. In 2008, I didn’t even know if I was good enough to be going to the Olympics. Now, I have more belief. I would have been upset if I didn’t make the team. It was more of a relief than anything that (trials) were over. I’m so happy to be done and ready to prepare for London.”While Christina admits to missing Bloomington, she said the change of scenery has been overwhelmingly positive. “As much as I loved Indiana, I had been training there for six years,” Christina said. “Everyone was younger; I felt out of place and needed a change, a new environment. I needed a new set of eyes to help with my diving. I’ve really enjoyed being in Texas, minus the weather. I decided to move down here also in part for Kassidy Cook, who is someone to push me and train with me every day.”Due to the near-decade age gap that divides Christina, 26, and Kassidy, 17, the formation of “Kasstina,” a moniker that has been the subject of hashtags on Loukas’ Twitter account, may have seemed unlikely. But the friendly competition, along with the unwavering, continuing encouragement from her family, has been instrumental in helping Christina flourish in Texas. Bashful yet buoyantAway from the pool, the most accomplished Loukas athlete might also be the most modest. “Hungry but humble,” as her mother describes her, Christina rarely, if ever, mentions any of her numerous accomplishments as a diver. Once, when wearing an Olympic ring that attracted a curious inquiry from a stranger, she answered in such unassuming fashion that Stacey felt compelled to interject on her sister’s behalf. “She was asked if she was wearing it simply because she liked the Olympics, and she said yes,” Patty said. “Her sister had to butt in and tell him, ‘She’s an Olympian!’ Christina has always liked to perform, but she’s also always been so humble.”Ahead of her jaunt to London, Christina said she has compiled the confidence to complement her humility, and her most ardent supporters agree. Patty says she appears more mature than four years ago, having undertaken a stricter training regimen and begun living by herself, free from the distractions of a college town. For her part, Stacey, who said she and her siblings visit Christina in Texas often, has also seen her sister’s maturation first hand. “She knows what to expect,” Stacey said. “She knows all the girls she’ll be diving against. I don’t think her nerves will be on her mind as much as the first time around. I talked to her just a few days ago, and she’s really excited and just wants to have fun.” For Christina, who will act as an international athletic ambassador for IU, suburban north Chicago and the Greek community, the agonizing wait for her return to competition under another set of familiar rings — the five intertwined Olympic ones — ends soon. From August 3 to 5, she will repeatedly plunge acrobatically into a still, deep blue sea from a height of 3 meters, hoping that when she resurfaces for the last time, she will emerge on the summit of the podium — and at the top of the sport she fell out of love with, only to embrace it again. “We’re so proud of her already,” Stacey said. “It’s a crazy, cheerful situation, and I know she’s worked so hard. "She’s put her life on hold for diving, so for her to win a gold medal would be the absolute.”
(06/28/12 12:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After missing out on the last qualifying spot for the final of her signature event, the 400-meter individual medley, by .2 seconds, co-IU Athlete of the Year Allysa Vavra spoke to the IDS from the USA Swimming Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb., to share her thoughts on the award, her future plans and the race that left her speechless. IDS What’s the atmosphere like there in Omaha? Is it all tense all the time, or are there down moments where you can sense the camaraderie among the swimmers?Vavra It depends. I have a lot of friends on a lot of different teams and end up supporting them as well. At the same time, there are people I want to beat. For the most part, though, I am pretty locked into meeting my own goals in the races. IDS What have been some highlights so far aside from the races?Vavra It’s nice getting to see friends, but quite honestly, I was devastated after (the 400 IM). IDS Well, not to revisit a fresh, painful memory, but let’s go back to the 400 IM for a second. Beforehand, you had called it the “biggest swim” of your week and said you knew it might have been your best shot of making the Olympics. What kinds of emotions were flashing through your mind in the moments right before the race?Vavra Well, the people that are in my race are the same ones I’ve been racing against at the NCAAs for the past few years, which helped calm me down. Also, I’ve been swimming at national level meets since I was 14. Still, I’ll admit I was nervous when I first got to the pool, but the pressure vanished once I warmed up and got acclimated.IDS Once you touched the wall and looked up to see your time, what were your initial thoughts? Vavra Disappointment. I was disappointed in myself in every single swimming-related aspect imaginable. I don’t think I spoke to anyone for half an hour; I was completely speechless. I’m extremely hard on myself, so the time is meaningless. I’ll just say that I train at a much higher level than I swam. I feel like I really let myself down.To the outsider’s eye, I’m sure it looks impressive, finishing one spot out of the finals, but I know I’m capable of more. I sacrificed so much to put myself in position to have this opportunity. Not only in the pool; there are other aspects that people might not always think about. Giving up going out with friends on weekends. Swimming 10 times a week. Recently, I’ve been in the water five and a half hours a day. No one else does that. It really is a letdown to see all that hard work go to waste. IDS You still have four races remaining this week (200 IM, 200 butterfly, 200 breaststroke, 200 backstroke). Even though you’re not on the national team for any of those events like you are for the 400 IM, do you still have lofty expectations for them?Vavra Honestly, I don’t have any expectations anymore. I had high expectations to start week but fell on my face. So now, I’m just going to go out there to have fun. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t love doing it. I can’t overstate how important it is for us to always keep in the back of your mind that we chose to do this and have to love swimming if we’re going to commit ourselves to the extent we do. It’s like that for everyone. There were so many people who burned out, and I truly don’t blame them. I can’t imagine putting myself through what I do if I didn’t still enjoy it. When I was 14, I made my first nationals. Then after I turned 16, I went five whole years until I swam another best time again. I definitely questioned myself during that time, constantly asking myself, ‘Why would I put myself through this? Is it worth it?’ There are still some days where I ask myself similar questions.But then it comes back to the simple fact that this is something I’m good at. This is a gift I’ve been given. There are so many people — I’ve experienced things lots of people won’t ever have a chance to experience, and for that I’m so grateful. (IU Head Coach Ray Looze) told me, ‘Some families don’t get one kid as talented as you are.’ He also swam, and he got the talent. It’s something you have to end up embracing. In this sport, it’s not for everybody. I’ve given up a lot of things — things other people take for granted. When I get up in the morning, sometimes I have to remind myself to embrace the talent I’ve been given.IDS Speaking of all that talent, you, along with track star and fellow NCAA Champion Andy Bayer, were just recognized for maximizing it this past season, having been named IU Athlete of the Year on Monday. What does an accolade like that mean to you? Vavra It’s a huge honor, especially because there are so many talented people in each sport. I took a class with Andy, so I know how good of an athlete he is, and there’s no one more deserving than him when it comes to that award. Not only in the classroom — he’s a really good student — but also to win the NCAAs, is very impressive.So many other people have done great things athletically. I’m just lucky enough to be named. If I could say that I helped my school and my program, that would be fantastic. Also, I want to help the reputation of student-athletes. I don’t look for people to congratulate me for my accomplishments. If they were going to congratulate me — and I think a lot of student-athletes would agree with me — I would want them to do so for the long hours of hard work I’ve put in here at IU. On another note, it’s nice that swimming and track are being honored. We don’t get recognized that often, and I think it’s important to note that people in other sports are doing great things as well. Hopefully, honors like this will attract more people to swimming and track meets. He and I are world-class athletes; we just don’t get our shots at glory as often as basketball or football stars do.It’s great for our sports to get more exposure, though, which is why this award means so much. Most of the student body doesn’t pay attention to us unless they are directly in contact with us. Hopefully, more people will come to see the team next year. I know how hard we work, and it’s frustrating sometimes when no one shows up to our meets. IDS How does this award compare to the records you’ve set in the pool for IU?Vavra It’s different. This is more a product of your season and how it ended up. Winning an NCAA Championship, on the other hand, is a goal you set for yourself going into the season. They are two different things, and I’ll take each for what it is and be more than happy to win it.IDS What’s next after these trials? Do you have plans for this summer or the immediate future, both in and out of the pool?Vavra I’m going to swim at the beach and train (laughs). I’ll kind of take a few days off to see my family. I haven’t been home since December. Then I’m going to the U.S. Open in August right before school starts. Since I transferred from Virginia, I still have another year of undergrad left. Once I come back, I’m not going to let anyone who would be on IU’s team beat me (laughs). I take pride in what I’ve accomplished, so I’m not going to let anyone outshine me. I’ll still be competing, despite the fact that I have no college eligibility left.IDS Lastly, is it too soon to start thinking about 2016?Vavra Oh, man (laughs). It’s so far away, and so many things could happen between now and then. I guess we’ll see. I felt like I had put all my eggs in one basket with the 400 IM this time around, but who knows what the future holds?
(06/18/12 12:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Former Hoosier field hockey great Kayla Bashore-Smedley is no stranger to building tradition from the ground up. When she first arrived in Bloomington and donned a cream and crimson uniform nearly 11 years ago, the Hoosier program she was joining possessed no history of any kind — it was entering its second year. Four years and a memorable college career later, she had not only picked up a degree in biology, she also became IU’s first — and still sole — recipient of First Team All-America honors and was a centerpiece of the Hoosiers’ first foray into the NCAA Tournament.Bashore-Smedley, who has since borne the Stars and Stripes at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and brushed shoulders with Michael Phelps and LeBron James during the Parade of Nations, again has her sights set on glory.Bashore-Smedley was one of 16 athletes named on June 11 to the roster for the women’s field hockey squad set to represent the U.S. later this summer at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She is also among seven players who will reprise their roles on the Olympic team that competed four years ago and finished eighth overall. This year’s edition of Team USA will seek its first medal in more than a quarter century in women’s field hockey, which has been an Olympic sport since 1980. Upon receiving the news she had made the cut, Bashore-Smedley said she entered a state of pure euphoria and began to soak in the surreal truth: She will be a two-time Olympian. “When you hear the congratulations, there’s jitters and a feeling of excitement and adrenaline,” she said. “Once the initial emotions subside, though, you feel relieved. As an athlete, it’s the ultimate goal. What we’re always striving for is to make the Olympics. We’ve been training for the last four years, so knowing you’ve actually made the team is an incomparable feeling.” In recent years, Bashore-Smedley has made a name for herself as a mainstay in midfield for Team USA, which, despite a slightly more elevated profile than her collegiate outfit, is still chasing not only recognition but also medals. Despite a dry spell for the squad in previous olympics, Bashore-Smedley and her compatriots produced the most promising display in decades for the American squad in Beijing. By dropping only two matches of the six it played, the 2008 incarnation of Team USA created a potential springboard from which to pursue podium awards.“To win a medal, we have to capitalize on times when we have momentum,” Bashore-Smedley said. “You’re always going to be up at some point, and you have to be aware and take advantage of those moments. We’ve got to say to ourselves, ‘We have to win this play, win this half, win this game,’ and keep in the moment.”Whether or not Team USA returns from England with shiny medallions around the necks of its players, Bashore-Smedley said she believes this year’s squad is poised for greater success than the one that appeared in Beijing — a group comprised entirely of Olympic first-timers. In retrospect, she admits the team might have been alternately wide-eyed and naïve.“We were all rookies in Beijing and didn’t know what to expect,” Bashore-Smedley said. “When we walked into the opening ceremonies as one with all of Team USA, there was such a strong sense of pride. Everybody chanting before we went in was the best feeling. Then on the field, as we were getting ready to play Argentina and it was raining during the national anthem, everything became reality all of a sudden. I thought, ‘This is it, we’ve arrived.’”Once the pomp and circumstance dissipated and gave way to the competition, Bashore-Smedley said she and her teammates quickly learned lessons that tested their mettle and will serve them well in London. “Every minute, every goal really matters in how you finish and place,” she said. “You could compare it to the Final Four. You’re just happy to get there the first time, but the second time you go, you really want to win it. We lacked a little bit of experience in 2008, and I think we’re more ready this time around to capitalize on certain situations.”Of the players on 2012’s more seasoned roster, nine of the 16 athletes named to Team USA hail from Pennsylvania. But unlike the geographical connections, the squad members’ ages vary. “A lot of the girls on the team have taken a year off from college. I’ve known them for a year, maybe two,” said Bashore-Smedley, who turns 30 next February, of her relationship with Team USA’s younger members. “The other half I’ve known since 2008. There’s such a mix of ages. I think the difference in age makes it so each group learns from the other. We take the best of both worlds to help us develop.”One of the key figures in Bashore-Smedley’s own development was current IU Head Coach Amy Robertson, whom Bashore-Smedley called “one of my favorite coaches of all time.”“She takes time to care for each player individually, which I think sets her apart from most other coaches,” she said of Robertson. “I’ve always admired that in her.” The culmination of Bashore-Smedley’s career in Bloomington under Robinson, a send-off in the form of an upset of highly ranked North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, came after the previous three years of losing seasons. The lesson imparted to her by her by a tough record is one the Hoosier star said she takes to heart. “I would have done it all the same way again,” Bashore-Smedley said, after confessing that while the sheer volume of defeats took their toll, the end result was well worth the wait.At IU, persistence, a strong work ethic and experience ultimately landed her and her teammates an Elite Eight appearance. Across the pond, she and another batch of colleagues will look to the same qualities later this summer to realize her latest — and loftiest — goal: a spot on the podium among the finest in her sport.
(05/14/12 12:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A day after ousting Louisville and etching its name in IU lore as one of the most successful teams in program history, the Hoosier men’s tennis squad was condemned to the same fate that befell its basketball brethren earlier this year, as Kentucky advanced at Indiana’s expense in the NCAA Tournament.In a match which mirrored the rivalry’s other encounter earlier this season, a 7-0 setback in January, the Hoosiers were defeated by the Wildcats, 4-0, failing to record a single point despite threatening on several occasions to spoil championship-chasing, sixth-ranked Kentucky’s day in front of a partisan crowd in Lexington, Ky. The loss capped a bittersweet weekend, and season, for IU. The Hoosiers not only won a match in the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in school history and first time since 2000, but also finally overcame Louisville, a source of perennial pain in recent years, with a 4-2 triumph against the Cardinals Friday afternoon. After Saturday’s season-ending defeat, though, the cream and crimson, who had harbored hopes of sending seniors Will Kendall, Stephen Vogl, and Jeremy Langer off with a deep postseason run, will have to settle for a first-weekend exit from 2012’s field of 64.Though part of a losing effort, trio’s final excursion onto the court was tense even from the first service of doubles action. In their last appearance as the Hoosiers’ No. 3 duo, Kendall and Vogl nearly surmounted a 6-0 deficit against Tom Jomby and Alejandro Gomez, capturing five straight games before finally surrendering an 8-6 decision. “We got off to a horrific start in doubles and were not taking care of our service games,” Kendall said. “Then we started playing with a much greater sense of urgency and began mounting a comeback. We had a break point to get it back on serve but failed to capitalize.”The defeat, coupled with a victory by Eric Quigley and Panav Jha, the Wildcats’ No. 1 and national No. 7 tandem, against Langer and fellow Canadian Isade Juneau, meant Kentucky had seized the doubles point and a 1-0 advantage heading into singles play.“Losing the doubles point hurt us because Kentucky is a very talented singles team, so we knew taking four of six would be a challenge,” Kendall said. “Still, though, after the doubles Coach got in our ear and we regrouped; I thought we had a chance to win on every court [in singles].”While Quigley quickly jumped out to a commanding lead against Juneau at No. 1, the Hoosiers’ only ranked individual netter, No. 78 Josh MacTaggart, stormed out to an equally impressive start at No. 2 against the country’s 15th-ranked player, Frenchman Alex Musialek, taking the first set in perfect 6-0 fashion. “It says a lot about Josh’s character and determination, but that’s nothing new for him,” Kendall said. “He’s been the rock for us all year.”From No. 3 to No. 6, the quartet of other matches simultaneously under way, whose opening sets the rivals split at two apiece, appeared headed for much more contested outcomes. No. 22 Anthony Rossi overcame a dropped marathon third game to outlast Langer, 6-4, at three, Vogl bested No. 80 Jomby by the same score at four, Kendall defeated No. 111 Alejandro Gomez, 7-5, at five, and Grant Roberts eked a 6-4 triumph against Friday’s hero, Dimitrije Tasic. After Quigley polished off a 6-1, 6-0 waxing of Juneau to put Kentucky up 2-0, an effort IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal praised as “as well as you can play,” the Hoosiers, who now required four victories from the remaining five matches, were left with a negligible margin of error.The margin was exceeded — and, by extension, the season ended — when Tasic dropped the second set to Roberts, 6-3, thus succumbing in the battle at No. 6 and pushing the Wildcats past the necessary four-point threshold. Earlier, Gomez had battled against Kendall to even the score at one set each, and Jomby had boosted Kentucky to a 3-0 lead with a late charge against Vogl, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. In a post-match interview, Jomby attributed his triumph at least in part to what he viewed as Vogl’s faltering endurance, but Kendall dismissed the reasoning.“I don’t agree with his assessment,” Kendall said. “Vogl is in as good if not better shape than anyone he plays. I was on the court so I couldn’t really tell what happened, but it obviously just came down to a couple points here and there at the end.”Despite the disappointing fashion in which the season concluded from a Hoosier point of view, Kendall said the cream and crimson have plenty to be proud of now—and excited for in the future. “Although we fell a little bit short of our goal of reaching the Sweet 16, we did make steps forward as a program,” Kendall said. “We’re proud to have produced the winningest season and second NCAA win in program history; it’s something that the team can use as momentum to build on next year.”
(05/12/12 4:52pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As yet another commanding early lead against arch-rival Louisville threatened to vanish, this time on the grandest stage yet, the Hoosiers received a shot in the arm from one of the unlikeliest of sources—their least experienced netter.After seizing an initial 3-0 lead, IU struggled to find the crucial point until sophomore Dimitrije Tasic completed a huge second set comeback and clinched IU’s 4-2 defeat of the Cardinals in Friday afternoon’s opening round NCAA encounter in Lexington, Ky. For IU Head Coach Bloemendaal and the seniors on the Hoosier squad, none of whom had ever recorded a victory against Louisville or advanced in the NCAA Tournament, the triumph was especially cathartic. “It’s been a long time coming,” Bloemendaal said. “Everybody’s pretty pumped about the win—Louisville was a monkey on our back. The seniors had experienced four years of them getting the better of us in different ways and us scratching our heads. To win the way Dima [Tasic] came back and won, they’re going to get excited about it, but more in a momentum sort of way. It’s just like, ‘Finally, we’ve made a separation with this team.’ And if anything, we had a chance to completely dominate them; Louisville did a heck of a job to keep fighting.”Before Tasic or any of his cream and crimson-clad comrades suited up in singles action, IU captured the doubles point through a pair of victorious results. Josh MacTaggart and Alastair Barnes cruised to an 8-3 win against the Cards’ Sebastian Stiefelmeyer and Robert Hall at No. 2, setting the stage for seniors Stephen Vogl and Will Kendall to seize the advantage heading into singles play with a late-charging 8-4 dismissal of Adam Donaldson and Michael Lippens at No. 3.The Hoosiers appeared to maintain the momentum in the majority of the sextet of individual battles that ensued; to lead off singles play, Isade Juneau and Vogl registered straight set victories at No. 1 and No. 4 against Andrew Carter and Michael Lippens, respectively, earning IU a 3-0 advantage. However, the certainty of the match’s outcome became murkier as it progressed. At Nos. 3 and 5, seniors Jeremy Langer and Kendall fell in straight sets within moments of one another, closing the lead to a much less assured 3-2 mark.With MacTaggart trading barbs (and sets) with Stiefelmeyer at No. 2 and Tasic floundering and down 5-1 in the second stanza opposite Luis Elizondo at No. 6, the prospect of another NCAA exit and defeat to the Cardinals suddenly seemed a possibility for IU.However, the Serbian sophomore took five of the last six games from Elizondo and then prevailing in an ultra-tense 8-6 second set tiebreak, finally ending years of futility against Louisville.“To come through in that situation was so tough,” Bloemendaal said of Tasic. “The crowd was outrageous today. The Louisville people weren’t your typical tennis crowd—they were cheering dirty a little bit, cheering between points, hanging over the fence. We had a lot of Indiana people there, too, though, and it really was a total team effort. To do that well despite not having great days from two of our seniors makes a big statement.”The breakthrough, which also ended a twelve-year drought of NCAA Tournament victories for the program, not only set the program mark for single-season wins, but also vaulted the Hoosiers (24-9. 7-4) into the second round for the first time since IU defeated Kentucky in the opening round in 2000. Coincidentally, the No. 26 Hoosiers will face the Wildcats, who are ranked sixth in the nation, in today’s second round battle scheduled for 2 p.m. “The Louisville match is one that propels us to get ready for Kentucky,” Bloemendaal said. “We needed something to boost us up to play a top 10 team. Kentucky will be ready, but so will we.”Though the Wildcats, who downed the Hoosiers 7-0 earlier this season, will likely be the beneficiaries of vociferous home support as the rivals vie for a berth in next week’s Sweet 16 in Athens, Ga., Bloemendaal said he has confidence in his team’s chances to extend its season at least one more match, especially after a word of encouragement from the head coach of Radford, who lost to Kentucky 4-0 later Friday.“Radford’s coach sent a really good message to our team—he told them that a win [against Kentucky] is attainable,” Bloemendaal said. “Even though Kentucky won fairly easily, they were fairly unimpressive. We’ve played this team before, and I think we’re pretty good at recognizing areas in teams that we can beat. The seniors have been talking to me and most people around them about how the ‘paradigm has switched’ within the team. If you’re really going to switch the paradigm, you’ve got to hit milestones; the Sweet 16 is a big one to hit. I don’t think they came to this tournament just to beat Louisville.”
(05/11/12 4:38pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Grouped in a conference that features the likes of perennial tennis powerhouses Ohio State and Illinois, Indiana’s own tennis program has long been labeled a middling one, seemingly relegated to relative obscurity and the annual chase of the Big Ten’s top dogs. “A few years ago, I heard some of the SEC coaches tell me that they didn’t think Indiana would ever be a tennis school,” IU Head Coach Bloemendaal said. Bloemendaal and the Hoosiers he has recruited since his promotion to head coach in May 2007, though, have defied those doubters in recent years, as the program has risen to regional—and national—relevance, finding success in the form of three NCAA Tournament appearances, several weeks ranked in the ITA Top 25, and last year’s second-place finish in the Big Ten behind only Ohio State. Friday, IU will look to take the most significant step forward yet in its ongoing pursuit of the “tennis school” moniker, as it stands on the precipice of killing two birds which have eluded Bloemendaal’s cream and crimson squads with one stone: should the Hoosiers defeat Louisville in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Bloemendaal and the current crop of Hoosiers would earn both their first NCAA Tournament victory and their first triumph against Louisville. The No. 26 Hoosiers and No. 34 Cardinals, who have a rich, if one-sided, history since Bloemendaal’s ascension, are slated to collide on the courts Friday at noon in Lexington, Ky., at the regional hosted by the University of Kentucky. The match will pit the two squads against one another for the sixth time in the last five years; each of those previous contests, including a 4-3 nail-biter in Bloomington in late March, have ended in the Cardinals’ favor. As Friday’s encounter marks Louisville’s fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the Cardinals will ostensibly hold an advantage in terms of postseason experience. In comparison, IU’s selection to the competition last Tuesday was only its second straight, last year’s invitation having ended a two year absence from the bracket. A closer inspection at today’s showdown’s respective rosters, though, reveals that the opposite may be true; only one of the Hoosiers’ expected contributors, sophomore Dimitrije Tasic, will be making his NCAA debut, while no fewer than four freshman Cardinals will be tasting tournament action for the first time.If the Hoosiers’ lineup chosen to face the Cardinals remains true to that employed by Bloemendaal in the late Big Ten regular season and conference tournament, the first five singles spots will be inhabited by upperclassmen. Though IU’s trio of seniors, Jeremy Langer, Stephen Vogl, and Will Kendall, has all enjoyed moments of individual glory at different points throughout the year, it reaped little reward from its apparent experience advantage in the season’s earlier bout between the two squads. Only Langer, who defeated German freshman Albert Wagner 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, emerged victorious in his singles encounter; Vogl lost to fellow senior Robert Hall 5-7, 5-7, while Kendall dropped the ultimately decisive contest, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, to freshman Floridian Luis Elizondo. In keeping with the mayhem of March’s match with the Cardinals, Bloemendaal said he expects Friday’s edition of the rivalry to be fraught with tension. “It’s going to be a heck of a first round matchup,” Bloemendaal said. “If we get through here, I really think we’ve played a lot of big matches this year and a few top ten teams. We haven’t quite come through, but I think the guys are ready to prove something.”If IU breaks through against Louisville, it will advance to meet the winner of Friday’s later match in the Lexington regional between No. 6 Kentucky and Radford. The Hoosiers lost on the road to the Wildcats 7-0 in a late January encounter whose score was not indicative of the nature of the battle; four of the singles matches, all of which were won by Kentucky, went to three sets.
(05/04/12 1:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A little more than a month ago, ahead of a stinging 4-3 home loss to Louisville that could have been the current trio of Hoosier seniors’ final contribution to the heated series, senior Stephen Vogl dubbed the Cardinals the Hoosiers’ “biggest rival” while also likening two squads’ familiarity to that of brothers.As it turns out, Vogl and fellow seniors Will Kendall and Jeremy Langer will get yet another shot at redemption against their Bluegrass State brethren — with the stakes higher than ever.No. 27 Indiana (23-9) will play No. 37 Louisville (18-9) in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament, whose bracket was released Tuesday evening. The news was greeted by a mixture of beaming grins and incredulous looks from the Hoosiers, who had gathered at BuffaLouie’s to watch the selection show. The rematch, scheduled for noon May 11 in Lexington, Ky., will mark the sixth time the two programs have faced each other in the past five years. Louisville’s 5-0 record in those encounters suggests the Cardinals have been the rivalry’s dominant force, but three of those victories have come in the form of 4-3 wins. “They’re a team we don’t like to lose to, and they’ve got the best of us the last few years,” IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal said. “I think the guys are excited to get a second chance this year with them.”Should the Hoosiers finally break through against the Cardinals under Bloemendaal, who has not beaten Louisville since taking over in 2007, they will advance to meet the winner of No. 6 Kentucky (26-5) and No. 75 Radford (20-5). Either matchup would pit the cream and crimson against yet another familiar foe. IU saw action against both squads in January, winning seven of eight singles contests against Radford and dropping a 7-0 decision to the Wildcats. However, Bloemendaal asserted that the Hoosiers cannot afford to divert their attention from Louisville to potential battles, however enticing, deeper in the tournament. He added that the focused mentality will be especially key for Vogl, Kendall and Langer, whose IU careers would end with a defeat next Friday. “I’ve been on a countdown with them,” Bloemendaal said. “You’ve got ‘x’ number of matches. We’re down to the scenario where you have one or six. Basically, there’s a sense of urgency in everything you do, and we’ve been talking about that for two months with the seniors. “I don’t think they want it to be one more, or even two. So I think they’re going to work at it to make sure that they move onto the next level and put themselves in position.”
(04/30/12 4:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The push for hardware for IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal’s team will likely have to wait another year after a battle with a familiar opponent ended in familiar fashion.No. 27 Indiana (23-9, 7-4) was unable to maintain a rare early lead against No. 3 Ohio State in Saturday’s Big Ten Tournament semifinal between the conference rivals, falling 4-1 and faltering in its drive for a tournament championship.The Hoosiers, who lost to the Buckeyes (31-3, 11-0) for the third time this season, had their progress in the competition halted tantalizingly close to the finals for the second consecutive year. The Hoosiers appeared to have learned from this past season’s disappointment — a 4-0 defeat to Minnesota — at this stage, as they seized the initial momentum and took the doubles point when both the No. 2 and No. 3 Hoosier tandems beat their Buckeye counterparts. The Hoosiers became the third team all season to pry the opening tally from OSU and were rewarded with a 1-0 lead entering singles play.Once action resumed, though, the Buckeyes quickly reasserted themselves and made headway reversing the deficit, storming out to commanding leads at the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 6 spots.In those initial stanzas, the Hoosiers struggled to keep pace with OSU’s lineup, which was comprised entirely of players ranked in the ITA Top 125. Only Vogl, the hero in Friday’s 4-3 quarterfinal win against Minnesota, was able to overcome his Buckeye opponent in the first set. Capitalizing on the leads they had garnered, the Buckeyes rolled to an overall 2-1 lead through a pair of triumphs at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. At the top of the lineup, junior Isade Juneau was dispatched by No. 11 Chase Buchanan 6-1, 6-2.Langer, who had managed to take only one first-set game from No. 67 Peter Kobelt, went toe-to-toe with his opponent for much of the second stanza, even grabbing a 4-3 lead midway through the set. It was at that crucial juncture that Langer’s late-season struggles at the No. 3 spot returned to haunt him. The senior and Toronto native dropped the next three games, surrendering the match 6-1, 6-4.Suddenly trailing 3-1, the Hoosiers found themselves ensconced in an unenviable position, as they needed wins in each of the remaining three matches to avoid losing to the Buckeyes for the third time this season. For a second, it looked as though the stars would at least be given a chance to align for the cream and crimson. The narrow path to an improbable upset appeared to broaden, if only slightly, when sophomore Dimitrije Tasic seized a late-set lead against No. 105 Connor Smith in the battle at No. 6. If Tasic, who had lost the first set 6-1, could push the encounter to a third frame, he would join Vogl and Kendall in a trio of tense affairs at the bottom of a lineup that would ultimately decide the outcome. Visions of victory vanished instantly, though, when Smith fought his way back into the set and overcame the Serbian sophomore in a tiebreak. He vanquished Tasic 6-1, 7-6, to register the final point of the match and clinch an overall 4-1 triumph, advancing the Buckeyes to Sunday’s championship match for the seventh straight year. Despite the loss, the Hoosiers look primed for another appearance as the recipients of an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament whose selection show is slated to air at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on NCAA.com.
(04/28/12 2:50pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>By the skin of their teeth, the Hoosiers are still alive in their quest for a Big Ten Tournament title. The final twist in a dramatic quarterfinal battle with the fourth-seeded Gophers went the way of fifth-seeded Indiana, as the No. 27 Hoosiers (23-8, 7-4) outlasted Minnesota 4-3 in Evanston, Ill., to advance to the tournament’s semifinals for the second consecutive year. IU overturned a late 3-2 deficit with clutch third-set theatrics by Stephen Vogl and Josh MacTaggart, avenging a home defeat to the Gophers (13-7, 8-3) by the same score earlier this month and setting up a chance for back-to-back days of redemption. Saturday, the Hoosiers will face No. 3 Ohio State, who have already handed them two lopsided defeats, 4-0 shutout in Columbus on January 29th and a 6-1 setback in Bloomington on March 25th. Before the cream and crimson could dream of revenge against the Buckeyes, though, they had to fight off a strong Minnesota team Friday afternoon in a contest that featured massive momentum shifts and fantastic finishes in both singles and doubles play. The match began in positive fashion for the Hoosiers, as they grabbed the initial point when MacTaggart and Alastair Barnes squeaked past Leandro Toledo and Juan Pablo Ramirez at No. 2 doubles by a 9-8 (4) mark. Earlier, Vogl and Will Kendall had beaten Jack Hamburg and Phillip Arndt 8-4 at No. 3, while the No. 77 tandem of Isade Juneau and Jeremy Langer lost 8-6 to Minnesota’s top-ranked and the country’s 37th rated duo, Rok Bonin and Julian Dehn.After the preliminary ebb and flow of the six singles contests settled into a rhythm, a 6-3, 6-0 victory by Will Kendall at No. 5 briefly doubled IU’s advantage. However, the Gophers’ Rok Bonin halved it almost immediately thereafter with his second defeat of Isade Juneau this month, a 6-4, 6-3 decision.With the score now favoring the Hoosiers 2-1, IU only required a split of the match’s four remaining battles to secure a Saturday date with the Buckeyes, who had advanced earlier in the day by easing past Nebraska 4-0. The most likely source of an additional point looked to be MacTaggart, who had won the first set 6-4 and, with a 5-4 second set lead, and appeared to be in position to close out No. 89 Leandro Toledo. The Big Ten Player of the Week, however, proceeded to surrender the next three games, conceding the set 7-5 and casting doubt on which Hoosier would provide the next triumph—or if it would be provided at all. IU’s uncertain standing was made even more precarious by the state of the other three matches in action, as Jeremy Langer, Stephen Vogl, and Dimitrije Tasic had all dropped the first sets of their respective bouts. Then, in a stunningly swift turn of events that called to mind visions of the Gophers’ turnaround a few weeks ago, Langer and Tasic fell within moments of one another. After Phillip Arndt beat Langer 6-2, 7-6 (3), Minnesota’s Jack Hamburg followed suit, completing a second set comeback to defeat Tasic, 6-3, 6-3.The losses meant that the Hoosiers had seen their early two point advantage not only erased but surmounted, and now were staring down the barrel of a 3-2 deficit and further heartbreak at the hands of the Gophers.Its margin of error suddenly reduced to zilch, IU’s only path left to team victory and a semi-final date with Ohio State required wins from both MacTaggart and Vogl, who were both entrenched in tension-wrought third sets. The task became less daunting almost immediately, though, thanks to an early MacTaggart surge, which propelled him to a 3-0 advantage, while Vogl played Julian Dehn even through the first four games, arriving at a 2-2 tally. Though Toledo clawed his way to a trio of games in the final set, he ultimately bowed out to MacTaggart, whose 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 triumph evened the overall score at 3-3, setting the stage for a winner-take-all denouement starring Vogl and Julian Dehn.After gaining a break only to give it back, Vogl avoided a tiebreak—and heartbreak—by taking the last two games of the 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 contest, finally supplying the Hoosiers with the point they needed to book their place in Saturday’s semifinals.
(04/27/12 2:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s tennis team opened the Big Ten Tournament at Northwestern on Thursday with a businesslike 4-0 victory against 12-seeded Iowa.The outcome was never in doubt for the fifth-seeded and overall No. 27 Hoosiers (22-8, 8-4), who captured the encounter’s doubles point and first three singles matches to seal their second win against the Hawkeyes (1-22, 0-12) this season as well as a spot in today’s quarterfinals against No. 36 Minnesota (13-6, 8-3).Just as it had in this month’s earlier matchup between the two squads, IU triumphed in two of three doubles encounters — this time at No. 1 and No. 3 — to claim a 1-0 lead and the upper hand heading into singles play. Seniors Will Kendall and Stephen Vogl, for whom this weekend represents a final hurrah in the conference tournament, started the Hoosiers strong by combining to defeat Tom Mroziewicz and Will Vasos 8-3 at No. 3 singles. After, fellow senior Jeremy Langer and his Canadian compatriot Isade Juneau followed suit with an 8-5 dismissal of the Hawkeyes’ top duo, Garret Dunn and Michael Swank.In the day’s only setback for the cream and crimson, the Hoosiers’ No. 2 duo, Josh MacTaggart and Alastair Barnes, fell 8-5 to the Hawkeyes’ second-seeded tandem, Matt Hagan and Jonas Dierckx. The Brits’ blemish was concealed on the scoreboard, though, by successful outings by the other two IU doubles teams that ultimately preserved the shutout.A trio of singles wins, two of them courtesy of Juneau and MacTaggart, who were named First Team All-Big Ten earlier this week, propelled the Hoosiers to an unassailable four-point lead.Vogl settled the affair with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Dunn at No. 4 after Juneau overwhelmed Matt Hagan 6-0, 6-2 at No. 1. MacTaggart, whose recent spoils also include Big Ten Player of the Week and a national No. 79 ranking, continued his winning form at No. 2. In a result indicative of the strides MacTaggart has made since the two squads met two and a half weeks ago in Iowa City, Iowa, the Hoosier netter and U.K. native recorded a straightforward 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Will Vasos; their previous battle had produced the opposite result, a 6-4, 6-1 Vasos victory. In Thursday’s reversal of fortune, MacTaggart registered his 34th win of the season in singles action and moved into a tie for the IU single-season record. Should he prevail in tomorrow’s matchup at the No. 2 slot, which will likely pit him against Minnesota’s Leandro Toledo for the second time in a fortnight, the junior will become the sole proprietor of the school mark. The history between the two bodes well for MacTaggart, who vanquished then-No. 78 Toledo 6-3, 6-4 in Bloomington on April 14.After Vogl clinched the decisive point, the three other matches were called off, remaining undecided, as is customary in the tournament. At the time, Langer was knotted with Dierckx 6-6 in the first set. Kendall, who led Mroziewicz 7-6 (7-0), 5-0, was poised to extend IU’s advantage, and Tasic was on the verge of leveling his 4-6, 5-2 bout with Chase Tomlins at one set apiece.Friday’s 10:30 a.m. match will see the Hoosiers against Minnesota, the perpetrators of one of the Hoosiers’ most difficult memories of the season, a 4-3 comeback win for the Gophers at IU Tennis Center. IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal said that while revenge will not necessarily be the most salient of motivating factors for his players, the pain of that defeat — the last one experienced by the Hoosiers — still lingers.“That one stung a little bit, which doesn’t hurt with the prep,” Bloemendaal said.Having finished fifth in Big Ten standings, IU heads the group of squads who failed to earn a first-round bye and thus must win four matches in four days to be crowned champion Sunday.Now that the first opponent is in the Hoosiers’ rearview mirror, conditioning, which Bloemendaal has repeatedly heralded as a hallmark of the team, assumes a greater role going forward.“The plan that goes into each match is a little bit different, but I think the doubleheaders we’ve played earlier in the year will help us a lot,” Bloemendaal said.IU has played seven doubleheaders this spring, six of them at home, and has a 13-1 record in those matches. The solitary loss, a 6-1 setback, came at home against Ohio State.
(04/26/12 2:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The late-charging Hoosiers, winners of five straight and seven of their last eight matches, begin postseason play today on familiar turf as the Big Ten Tournament commences at Northwestern’s Vandy Christie Tennis Center. For the second time in five days, the Hoosiers will play in Evanston, Ill. IU dispatched of the Wildcats 6-1 at the same facility last Sunday. The road win, coupled with a home upset of then-No. 20 Illinois two days earlier, vaulted IU from No. 36 to No. 27 in the rankings released Tuesday. The Hoosiers (21-8, 7-4), who leapfrogged the No. 43 Wildcats in beating them last weekend to take the No. 5 seed, are slated to kick off their quest for a Big Ten Championship and automatic NCAA berth at 10:30 a.m. EST today against cellar dweller Iowa. The Hawkeyes (1-21, 0-11) earned the No. 12 seed, having failed to amass a single conference victory during the regular season. Recent history in the tournament’s early stages favors the Hoosiers. IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal’s team boasts a perfect 3-0 record in the opening round and has advanced at least as far as the quarterfinals all four years.The Hoosiers and Hawkeyes met in action earlier this month in Iowa City, Iowa, with IU winning 6-1 in a match that catalyzed the cream and crimson’s return to the upper echelon of the conference standings. Though IU entered the contest on a three-match slide, its longest of the season, the Hoosiers sucked the drama out of the affair early on as Jeremy Langer, Will Kendall and Dimitrije Tasic cruised to a trio of singles victories at No. 3, 5 and 6, respectively, after the doubles point had been claimed.While seeking a repeat performance at those spots, Bloemendaal said the team will also be looking for a lift from the top of the lineup this weekend, which enjoyed perhaps its most successful stretch of conference play last weekend in victories against Illinois and Northwestern.“We’re starting to play better again at the top, and we’re still playing just as well if not better at the bottom,” Bloemendaal said. “We’re doing everything for the team, but the question at this point in the season becomes more about six individual spots and three doubles teams. I think we’re very close to playing our best tennis at all spots, and we’re performing at the right moment.”No spot shined more brightly in the pair of wins than No. 2, where Josh MacTaggart’s on-court accomplishments earned him Big Ten Player of the Week. MacTaggart knocked off two ranked opponents, No. 30 Roy Kalmanovich of the Illini and No. 124 Spencer Wolf of the Wildcats, in such dominant fashion that he did not concede more than two games in any one set, MacTaggart also partnered with Alastair Barnes to register a 3-0 record in doubles. The rematch with Iowa promises to take on a different character than its predecessor, as it will be played on the neutral courts. Bloemendaal intimated that the conference foes may be at a disadvantage against the Hoosiers this week, as the Hoosiers spent most of last weekend on the very surface that will host the tournament. “The benefit of last weekend is that we practiced on these courts on Saturday and spent the majority of Sunday playing on them,” Bloemendaal said. “Other teams might not be able to get a lot of practice time, and I think that could work in our favor.”Should the Hoosiers dispatch the Hawkeyes for the second time this month, they will face another familiar opponent in fourth-seeded and overall No. 36 Minnesota Friday morning. The potential rematch, which would give IU the chance to avenge its most recent defeat of the season, a 4-3 home loss on April 14, would take place at 10:30 a.m. EST.
(04/23/12 2:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As the sun set Friday on a gloomy evening and most corners of Bloomington turned their attention to the animated festivities surrounding Little 500, one enclave of Hoosiers joined the rest of the student body in celebration — but its elation was of a different nature. The only liquid merriment present at this celebration was Gatorade. The only bikes to be found were hidden well out of sight and bolted to the ground, their displays blank and pedals motionless. And the moment of triumph — one that prompted a usually calm, composed figure to launch himself high into the air with his clenched fist pumped — was won without lifting a finger.With the IU Tennis Center as his stage, the figure, senior Will Kendall, watched his Illini counterpart fire a serve into the net for the second consecutive time, gifting the IU senior a 7-5, 7-5 victory and the No. 36 Hoosiers (21-8, 7-4) the decisive point in a 5-2 defeat of No. 20 Illinois. Kendall and the IU men’s tennis squad prevailed 7-0 against Vincennes on Friday night and 6-1 at No. 44 Northwestern on Sunday. Kendall and fellow seniors Jeremy Langer and Stephen Vogl were honored in a pre-match Senior Day ceremony for the four years of blood, sweat and tears they have poured into the Hoosier program.With Kendall’s winning moment, the Hoosiers have now beaten perennial powerhouse Illinois twice in a row for the first time since 1992 and 1993. “It means a lot. Winning that point was a big high, and it’s something that I think I’ll take with me for the rest of my life,” Kendall said.In an afternoon Kendall called the “one of the weirdest” he’d ever been a part of, as a dramatic temperature drop, darkness, wind and rain all factored into the course of the match, the Hoosiers snatched the doubles point through a pair of comebacks and never looked back. Langer, Kendall, junior Josh MacTaggart, who beat No. 30 Roy Kalmanovich, and sophomore Dimitrije Tasic all overcame the conditions and turned in victorious performances in singles play to earn the first of the weekend’s two conference wins. In the regular season finale Sunday at Northwestern, the Hoosiers again jumped out to a 1-0 lead through triumphs at No. 2 and No. 3 in doubles before accelerating to a quintet of singles wins en route to a 6-1 road win. MacTaggart capped off his weekend with another defeat of a ranked opponent, No. 124 Spencer Wolf, while junior Isade Juneau reentered the winner’s circle with a 7-5, 6-1 dismissal of the Wildcats’ Josh Graves at No. 1.IU will enter this week’s Big Ten Tournament having won five of its last six contests in conference. The lone blemish during that span came in the form of a 4-3 home setback last Saturday to Minnesota.
(04/20/12 2:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A year ago, a comeback home victory at rival Illinois’ expense provided the current crop of seniors with one of the most enduring, triumphant memories of their careers. After the Illini — who came to Bloomington toting a No. 13 national ranking — stormed out to an early 2-0 lead, IU responded by claiming four of the last five points to secure a 4-3 victory.Seniors Stephen Vogl, Jeremy Langer and Will Kendall said they hope to conjure up a repeat of last year’s scenes of Hoosier joy at a 3 p.m. Friday Senior Day rematch with No. 20 Illinois at the Varsity Tennis Courts.“You could just tell that there was something different that day and we weren’t going down,” said Vogl, whose straight-set victory at No. 6 halved the initial deficit and jump-started the revival. “We’d taken beatings from Illinois in the past and really wanted to change the paradigm of Indiana tennis, and I think we did that last year. Being a senior, I, as well as Will and Jeremy, kind of have to tell the younger guys exactly how to refresh your mind and get that memory going again this time around.”This weekend, No. 36 Indiana leads off against the Illini before playing Vincennes on Friday evening and heading northward for a conference-closing road clash with No. 44 Northwestern at 1 p.m. Sunday.As for Friday’s showdown with Illinois, Langer, who recorded his 100th doubles victory as a Hoosier on Sunday against DePauw, revealed that motivation for a win would not be in short supply.“Illinois is a marquee team. To beat them means a lot, and to beat them two years in a row, that would make an even bigger statement,” Langer said. “The fact that it’s the last match is really exciting for me, but even more so is the fact that we are playing Illinois — the occasion makes it an even more important match.” Illinois (13-6, 7-2) will look to its own experienced netters to squelch a celebratory Senior Day send-off for the Hoosiers on Friday afternoon. Its top two singles players, seniors Dennis Nevolo and Roy Kalmanovich, are ranked seventh and 30th in the country, respectively, and comprise the No. 20 doubles tandem nationally. “(Illinois) is pretty good at the top, and after that, they’ve performed pretty well in some spots and not as well in others. We’re really pretty even,” IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal said. “I think we match up very well with them at the doubles, and I think (junior) Josh (MacTaggart) is starting to play really well at two, so (MacTaggart vs. Kalmanovich) is going be an interesting match. “(Junior) Isade (Juneau) needs to step up, but it’s time, and he knows he’s capable. After one and two, we’re just as good or better than them at every position. Either team can win. It’s going to be a battle.”After a nighttime encounter with Vincennes, the third-ranked junior college squad in the country, and a day of rest, a road trip to Northwestern (13-8, 6-3) will round out action for both the weekend and the Big Ten regular season. The Wildcats’ strong campaign thus far has caught the attention of Bloemendaal and the Hoosiers. “They’re probably better than most people expected, but they’ve had a lot of talent on that team for a couple of years, and it looks like they’ve got it going at the right time,” Bloemendaal said. Vogl, who said he shared his coach’s respect for the Wildcats’ body of work this season, admitted that the mid-weekend change of scenery — the first transit of its kind this spring — might actually benefit the Hoosiers, considering the frenzied state of campus this week.“It’s just another match on the road, and it’s Little Five week here, so getting out of town is probably a good thing,” Vogl said.
(04/18/12 1:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a stellar weekend for one of their future recruits, the Hoosiers can now look forward to the services—and returns—of a national champion. Samuel Monette, who hails from the same Montreal suburb, Repentigny, as future teammate junior Isade Juneau, captured the Canadian Under-18 national championship in both singles and doubles this past week. Monette, who entered the tournament as the top seed after finishing as runner-up this past year, defeated second-ranked Brayden Schnur 7-6 (6), 6-0 in Markham, Ont., to earn the singles title. In doubles, he partnered up with Edward Nguyen to beat the British Columbian duo of Alexander Day and Zach Lidster by a 6-2, 6-1 mark. The victories will only fuel the excitement surrounding the recruiting class due to enroll at IU this fall. Earlier this spring, the 2012 class was rated No. 15 in the country by TennisRecruiting.net, making it the most heralded collection of incoming freshmen to join the Hoosiers during IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal’s tenure. Monette is one of two Canadians and four players overall to have signed a letter of intent to play in Bloomington this fall. He will be joined by fellow countryman Daniel Bednarczyk of Woodbridge, Ont., and two rising seniors from Indianapolis-area high schools, Elliott Yee of Carmel, and Christopher Essick of Fishers.
(04/17/12 3:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A hard-fought win sandwiched by a heartbreaking loss and a 7-0 victory — all in a weekend’s work for the Hoosiers.IU entered the two-day home stand in a tie for fifth in the Big Ten, knowing its weekend results would factor significantly into its ultimate finish in the conference. After beating Wisconsin and DePauw but faltering against No. 40 Minnesota in a busy 32-hour stretch, the Hoosiers waved farewell to the weekend in much the same state — alone in sixth place in the Big Ten. However, with fewer matches and fewer potential wins remaining on the schedule to bolster its overall résumé, IU has a window of opportunity to secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament that is narrower than before. The weekend began just as the Hoosiers’ last home match, a last-gasp defeat to Louisville more than a fortnight ago, had ended in bitter disappointment. During Saturday’s sole contest, Minnesota rallied from a 3-1 deficit to claim a 4-3 victory and halted IU’s two-game Big Ten winning streak, which itself had been aided by a triumph of the same score in Nebraska the previous Sunday. A new day brought a better pair of results the Hoosiers’ way, though, as Sunday, No. 31 IU (18-8, 5-4) used a quick start to overcome Wisconsin 5-2 and stay afloat in the conference standings and then proceed to overwhelm Division-III DePauw in a 7-0 contest. “The thing that I’m most proud of is how resilient we’ve been despite tough situations,” IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal said. “Not once did we think we were not going to do what we did (Sunday) and battle through every situation, and I think that takes a lot of character.”Senior Will Kendall, who has prevailed in all five singles bouts since moving to the No. 5 spot April 1 at Michigan, echoed his coach’s praise for his teammates and called on them to continue taking a hard-nosed approach in upcoming matches against Illinois and at Northwestern.“It would have been easy to harp on (Minnesota), but everyone really responded and wants to turn this thing around,” Kendall said. “We’re close to going on a run, we just all need to take more individual ownership of the court we’re on. It’s a big responsibility to take on, but you have to go into your match with the mindset that the match as a whole is going to come down to me. You have to embrace the pressure, which we’ve handled well at times and crumbled under at others.”Coming into the weekend, perhaps none of the Hoosiers’ key contributors had better embodied those erratic tendencies than junior Josh MacTaggart, who had seen his recent form ebb and flow in the opposite direction of the team as a whole.In back-to-back team losses in Michigan two weeks ago, MacTaggart eased to a pair of victories, but in consecutive triumphs in Iowa and Nebraska the following weekend, he stumbled to a double-dose of defeat.Bloemendaal said his preseason plan had accounted for the junior to be a model of consistency at the top of the lineup, as MacTaggart had played at the three spot as a sophomore. This past weekend, MacTaggart appeared to find that elusive gear, Bloemendal said.“I think he’s on course to really start making a big jump,” Bloemendaal said. “I’m starting to see him do certain things — and it’s really not so much what’s going on in these matches — mentally and physically to get what it takes to get to the next level. We do need him, and then we need (senior Jeremy Langer) to do the same thing, and then we’re pretty much where we want to be at that point.” Whether alone or alongside junior doubles partner Alastair Barnes, MacTaggart repeatedly flustered his opponents by returning seemingly every shot rifled his way. Content to wait patiently and pounce on his adversaries’ flubbed forehands and attempts to rush the net, MacTaggart rolled to a 6-0 overall record. He registered three straight-set victories in as many attempts at singles play, including a 6-3, 6-4 win at Gopher and national No. 78 Leandro Toledo’s expense, to go along with a trio of doubles triumphs. “He beat a good player, a kid from Wisconsin that plays No. 1 sometimes,” Kendall said. “They had a few warzone games early on, a few deuce-ad games, and Josh pulled through and the other kid decided it was too tough, too far of an uphill climb.” On Sunday, the incline for all of MacTaggart’s opponents was equally as steep, his domination so thorough that during one stretch spanning both legs of the afternoon doubleheader, he captured 37 of 39 games. The run, which began after a 3-3 start against the Badgers’ No. 2 doubles tandem, saw MacTaggart and Barnes take the last five games of that encounter and then win eight of nine opposite DePauw’s second-ranked duo later in the evening.Most of the streak’s damage was done in singles action, though, as MacTaggart dropped only a solitary game in two matches of action. First, he badgered Wisconsin’s Frederik Ask into submission, ultimately trotting off the court a 6-0, 6-1 winner.In the initial set against the Norwegian, MacTaggart even sealed the shutout in style, firing an winner past Ask and into the right corner to clinch a perfect first stanza. For an encore, MacTaggart seized his first opportunity this season to play at No. 1 singles just hours later, routing DePauw’s Ben Kopecky 6-0, 6-0.
(04/13/12 3:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After collecting a pair of road victories that launched them back into contention for a top-four finish in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers turn their attention this weekend toward two conference matchups. With only a quartet of conference clashes remaining and the postseason rapidly approaching, the margin of error for the Cream and Crimson is quickly dwindling. But while that harsh reality is not lost on him, IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal said he maintains that his team is well positioned for a late-season charge. “I’m very excited about the way the opportunities are coming at us here at the end,” Bloemendaal said. “If we do well, we’re going to make a heck of a run. It’s taken us a little bit of time — longer than I thought it would — to kind of figure out which direction we’re destined to go after, but I think the guys are really starting to believe.”The drive for a favorable seed in the Big Ten tournament begins in earnest this weekend as the Hoosiers confront No. 40 Minnesota and Wisconsin, who together comprise half of the conference foes IU has yet to meet in battle. Though a meeting with the struggling Badgers (9-10, 1-6), who will be seeking a season-salvaging win, looms at noon Sunday, it is Saturday’s contest with the Golden Gophers (9-6, 4-3) at the same hour that will have a far greater bearing on the conference race. Also rounding out the weekend’s action will be a brief step out of Big Ten play for a Sunday evening encounter against instate-foe DePauw, who competes in Division III’s North Coast Athletic Conference.If the Hoosiers are to continue an upward climb in the Big Ten, though, they will have to start by besting the Gophers, a team that senior Will Kendall said has caused them problems in the past. “We split with Minnesota last year, beat them on their home courts in the regular season and then got knocked out by them in the Big Ten tournament semi-finals.” Kendall said. “Two years ago, we lost to them 4-3 in a match that probably cost us an NCAA Tournament bid. I know the upperclassmen on Minnesota after competing against them for three years. There’s not a lot of love lost between the players or coaches, so we’ll be expecting a ton of energy from them and a battle all day long.”Minnesota and IU, who are currently tied for fifth in the Big Ten, will each enter Saturday’s skirmish fully cognizant of its potential implications.“If we run the table and win the rest of the Big Ten matches — and three of them are at home — we’re in a heck of a position to make a run late in the year, especially in the Big Ten Tournament,” Bloemendaal said. “We have a heck of an opportunity to go 4-0, and (Minnesota) is the first step. If we have one little slip up, though, we’re kind of in there with a bunch of teams. We don’t have much of a margin of error here at the end, but you don’t any time you get into the postseason.”Senior Jeremy Langer acknowledged the threat the Gophers present to the Hoosiers’ campaign for a flurry of a finish, but he said he and his teammates are brimming with confidence after last Sunday’s breakthrough at Nebraska. “That win really meant a lot for us,” Langer said. “It got our momentum going again.” In Lincoln, Neb., the Hoosiers overcame adversity both individually and collectively, as Langer fought off a sprained wrist to eke out a victory alongside doubles partner junior Isade Juneau. Later, Juneau rebounded from a first set defeat to record the match’s final point and ensure the team would not squander an early 3-0 overall lead. “Isade took advantage of his first opportunity to serve out the match and played some really great points,” Langer said. “He did an unbelievable job. We were extremely excited and really cheering hard after he won.” Despite still searching for the “next level or two” of play he said his squad is capable of achieving, Bloemendaal said he was similarly heartened by the overall display against the Cornhuskers. “What I take away more than anything from last weekend is that when we had our backs against the wall, we played our best tennis,” Bloemendaal said. “You get a lot tougher on the road. Things that you might take for granted by playing a lot of home matches, you come back after a road trip and start embracing those things and using them to give you an advantage out on the court. I think that coming back after the tough couple of weeks on the road is going to be a catalyst to give us the momentum to do the sorts of things we’re aiming for.”Those aspirations include a Big Ten Tournament championship, a top ten national ranking and a chance to play host to a NCAA Tournament Regional. These remain far-off goals at the moment, but a pair of victories this weekend would make them more realistic, Bloemendaal said. “If we’re talking a week from now about the momentum we’ve gained, I’m not going to be surprised,” Bloemendaal said. “I think that’s kind of where we’re at. We just have to go out and take it at this point.”
(04/10/12 2:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Throughout the spring campaign, junior Isade Juneau has shown flashes of brilliance. In late January, he led the nation’s fifth-ranked player by a set before the match was called off. Two weeks ago, he repeatedly frustrated No. 35 Louisville’s top netter, Andrew Carter, with vicious serves and fierce forehands en route to a straight set win. Missing from his 2012 résumé, however, was an official victory against a ranked opponent — until now. Juneau rallied from a dropped first set to defeat No. 79 Christopher Aumueller 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, and earn his first defeat of an ITA top 125 opponent — but more importantly, to register the pivotal point in a tense 4-3 Hoosier victory at Nebraska on Sunday that capped a weekend of road conference wins out West for IU. “Isade stepped up and acted like the leader he is in winning the decisive point for us,” senior Will Kendall said. “We all had confidence he would pull through for us. He’s fearless out there and always believes he will win.”IU, who also eased to a 6-1 defeat of Iowa on Friday in Iowa City, Iowa, improves to 16-7 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten. In Sunday’s much closer encounter in the Cornhusker State, the Hoosiers reaped the reward of both Juneau’s resilience and Kendall’s personal redemption.The contest in Lincoln, Neb., which took on added meaning as the two programs competed for the first time in a conference setting, provided the perfect backdrop for Kendall to avenge what he called “one of the most bitter memories of my career.” When the Hoosiers and Huskers met three years ago in Bloomington, Kendall squandered a one-set lead at No. 5 singles and surrendered the decisive point in a 4-3 heartbreaker that went against the home side. While Sunday’s inaugural Big Ten matchup of the two schools also saw Kendall assume the fifth singles position, the similarities between the two contests ended there. This time, the senior and Short Hills, N.J., native utilized a tremendous experience advantage over his opponent, freshman Huskers netter Stefan Gollner, to dictate the outcome. With a resounding 6-0, 6-1 victory, Kendall not only exorcised demons from his nascent days as a Hoosier, but he also boosted his team’s chances in a crucial road Big Ten clash. “Apart from myself, I wouldn’t say revenge was an incredibly motivating factor in our preparation,” Kendall said. “But for myself, losing that match as a freshman was for sure a factor. I was happy to turn it around in a tight 4-3 match where my point had an impact on the overall team score.”The Hoosiers, who entered the contest deadlocked with Nebraska in the Big Ten standings, were also buoyed by senior Stephen Vogl’s dominating 6-1, 6-3 dismissal of Husker netter Andre Stenger.Unlike both of last weekend’s outings, the Hoosiers set the tone for success early in each leg of their road trip westward, earning the all-important, momentum-swinging doubles point in both contests.While in Iowa the pendulum swung heavily in the Hoosiers’ favor from the outset, as the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams both drubbed Hawkeye tandems by an 8-1 mark, the Huskers provided much sterner resistance to the cream and crimson’s quest for the initial tally.Ultimately, though, the Hoosiers triumphed when Juneau and senior Jeremy Langer combined to edge the 19th-ranked tandem in the country, Aumueller and Benedikt Lindheim, 9-8 (7-1), in a match that featured a frightening moment for the elder half of the top IU twosome. “Jeremy dove for a ball on our first match point and sprained his wrist, but he fought through it and was able to close it out for us,” Kendall said. “He showed a lot of guts and heart to fight as hard as he did in the tiebreak, considering the injury.”Langer’s partner, Juneau, along with Vogl, also went undefeated in singles play, winning both of their matches at the one and four spots, respectively. For Juneau’s opening act to his impressive outing against the Huskers’ top dog, he outlasted the Hawkeyes’ Matt Hagan in the first set before seizing control in the second, ultimately prevailing 7-5, 6-1.Vogl, whose transition to No. 4 has been a smooth one, saw off a challenge from Iowa’s Jonas Dierckx 6-3, 7-5, before capping a perfect weekend by defeating Stenger.Junior Josh MacTaggart, the only Hoosier to record a pair of singles victories last weekend in Michigan, saw his rich vein of form run dry out West. Though he and junior Alastair Barnes trounced Iowa’s Hagan and Will Vasos 8-1 in doubles play, MacTaggart failed to capture a set in singles action at the No. 2 spot. Vasos bested him by a 6-4, 6-1 mark, while No. 95 Lindheim outlasted the Barnston, U.K., native, 6-4, 6-4.
(04/06/12 2:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Eager to put a recent dip in form behind them, IU will make its way westward this weekend looking to notch a pair of rare road victories. Iowa and No. 68 Nebraska will comprise the competition for IU, whose away record has slumped to 2-5 in the wake of last weekend’s back-to-back missteps in Michigan.Unlike last weekend, the Hoosiers will have the benefit of a day’s rest between contests — not to mention an extra hour of preparation thanks to the time change. Central Time will play host to both matches, which are scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Sunday, respectively. Though Iowa sports a 1-15 record entering Friday’s fracas with IU, including a 0-5 mark in the Big Ten, the Hawkeyes have taken points from conference foes Nebraska, Penn State, Northwestern and, most notably, Illinois. Because of this, IU Coach Randy Bloemendaal said he is adamant IU maintain the same level of respect it would offer to highly ranked opponents. “We’re in no position to approach it any other way,” Bloemendaal said. “It’s a perfect match for us to go in and get some confidence back that we’ve had throughout the season. It’s the right match for us on the road.”Two days later, the Hoosiers will plunge deeper into the heartland for a crucial battle against the Cornhuskers, a squad Bloemendaal called as talented as any in the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers, who also play No. 72 Purdue on Friday, currently sit at 8-9 overall but share the same 2-3 conference record as the Hoosiers. While Sunday’s matchup of different shades of red will see the Hoosiers and Cornhuskers entrenched in Big Ten competition for the first time, the seniors on each squad will have seen each other once before — in their freshman campaign. In February 2009, then-newcomer Will Kendall fell short in three sets in the decisive bout, ultimately dooming the Hoosiers to a 4-3 defeat.“We lost in a nail-biter,” Kendall said. “I lost the deciding match and have been patiently awaiting a rematch for three years.”Most members of the team, however, will have no motivation of personal revenge to draw from while attempting to down Nebraska. To prevail against the conference’s western-most contingent, Kendall said he and the rest of the cream and crimson outfit, which took a 10-spot tumble in the rankings released this week, have to rid themselves of the “emotional baggage” that surfaced after last week’s loss to Louisville and carried into the setbacks at Michigan State and Michigan.“The backbone of our program is competing from start to finish with energy and body language, battling all day long and taking our opponent’s heart away,” Kendall said. “We suffered a tough blow against Louisville, but now we have to reset our eyes on a Big Ten Championship and shift our mindset to attack (Iowa and Nebraska) with a sense of urgency while exhibiting a renewed sense of pride for the program.”Two Hoosier netters Bloemendaal will be hoping to see said sense of urgency from are Canadian compatriots Jeremy Langer and Isade Juneau. The pair failed to win a match of any kind in last weekend’s road trip to Michigan, slumping to a couple of doubles defeats as a team and two straight set losses each individually. The recent inconsistent form of both has Bloemendaal searching for answers heading into the latter half of the Big Ten slate. “As far as Jeremy is concerned, he is capable of beating everybody plays,” Bloemendaal said. “That’s a responsibility that he needs to take care of every time he steps onto the court. Last weekend, for him to go down and not succeed the way he should—that was difficult to watch. There’s no one in the Big Ten at the 3 spot he shouldn’t beat.”Kendall, also, was quick to voice his unwavering support for the abilities of Langer, who is the only other member of this year’s Hoosier squad to have played in singles action against the Cornhuskers. “He’s been working hard in practice and doing extra drills with Coach this week to elevate his game,” Kendall said. “He’s capable of performing at a high standard every day.”
(03/30/12 3:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosiers will look to put a difficult stretch behind them this weekend as they travel north to Michigan in hopes of corralling a pair of Big Ten victories. With little time to digest a double dose of defeat to Ohio State and Louisville, No. 23 Indiana (14-5, 2-1) will test its mettle in the Great Lakes State in back-to-back matches Saturday and Sunday. Michigan State and No. 34 Michigan, are slated to provide the opposition as the cream and crimson search for conference victories number three and four.The Hoosiers enter Saturday’s contest against the Spartans on the back of their first defeat to a team with an inferior ranking this season, having lost a 4-3 nonconference decision at home to No. 45 Louisville on Wednesday. However, IU conceded no ground in the Big Ten race.Still, the manner in which the Hoosiers dropped the match disappointed the players.“You don’t expect to put this behind you quickly,” senior Jeremy Langer said. “It was obviously a really difficult match. You’ve just got to take this match, learn from it and hope for the best in the future.”Langer, who stumbled out of the gates against the Cardinals in surrendering his first set to Albert Wagner before recovering for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win, said he is seeking stronger starts this weekend.“I’m absolutely going to bring more energy this weekend right from the start and just try to take over from the very beginning,” Langer said. “As a team, we definitely expect Michigan to come after us because we got them last year. But we definitely think we can compete with them at all positions.”IU eked out a win against the Wolverines 4-3 and slew the Spartans 6-1 in the same matches last year, which were played out in Bloomington. Against Louisville, Langer and junior Isade Juneau represented the lone bright spots in singles play, as each prevailed in his match, giving the Hoosiers points at No. 1 and No. 3 singles.Senior Will Kendall said the Canadian duo, who also teamed up to vanquish the Cardinals’ No. 1 doubles team, should be riding a wave of confidence into this weekend’s slate of play.“They both stepped up big and have got to be beating their chests,” Kendall said.Juneau, who will likely again assume the top singles spot for the Hoosiers, will face an opponent ranked in the top 10 for the third time this season.In his previous two attempts, Juneau went 0-1, losing in straight sets to then-No. 4 Costin Paval of Oklahoma and leading No. 5 Blaz Rola of Ohio State in the other before his match was halted as the outcome of the overall contest against the Buckeyes had been decided.