Both the University of Indianapolis men’s and women’s tennis teams fell in competition this weekend, as the men lost its match against the Butler University Bulldogs, 7-2, and the women dropped its match against the Illinois State University Redbirds, 5-4.
The men currently stand at 1-1 on the season, while the women have yet to find a victory at 0-3.
During the week before, both teams began their seasons, as the men hosted the Eastern Illinois University Panthers on Feb. 3 and the women welcomed a pair of inner-city foes, including the IUPUI Jaguars and Butler on Feb. 1 and Feb. 6, respectively. The men claimed their match over the Panthers 6-3, while the women dropped their first two matches, falling to the Jaguars in a close 5-4 result, and losing in blowout fashion to the Bulldogs, 9-0.
In the men’s opener, the Greyhounds split in singles competition, winning with freshman Christoph Drechsler at the No. 1 spot, junior Tony Kostadinov at No. 2 and freshman Andrea Morlet, who played as the No. 6 singles position for UIndy. Despite tying up in singles competition, UIndy ran away with the match in doubles action, claiming all three points against the opposition. Winning at No. 1 doubles was the duo of Drechsler and Kostadinov, which was followed by a win by Morlet and sophomore Marco Razo. Lastly at the No. 3 doubles, junior Fausto Cordova and junior Luke Hubert claimed another point for the Greyhounds, winning over their competitors as well.
For the women, the Greyhounds fell in their second match of the season against Butler, failing to win a single event during the entire match. Although three of the singles competitions took three sets to determine a victor, the Greyhounds were blown out 6-0. In doubles competition, UIndy also failed to take a single point, despite a close competition at No. 1 doubles with the Greyhounds’ duo of sophomore Stephanie Hirsch and freshman Florence Renard.
The Greyhounds lost a close match against IUPUI a few days before, winning in doubles action, 2-1, but losing in singles competition, 4-2, leading to a Jaguars’ 5-4 advantage in the final score. Amongst those who helped contribute points for the Greyhounds during the match, the team was led by Hirsch, who claimed a point in both singles and doubles competition. Hirsch won at the No. 1 spot in singles, while claiming the other victory in doubles alongside sophomore teammate Selenay Heper at No. 1.
After having a statistically impressive day herself, Hirsch said that the team as a whole still has improvements to make this season.
“It was our first match in the season, and I guess we were overexcited,” she said. “I won my doubles and I won in singles, and we [UIndy] did a good job. But it was our first match, and we know what we have to work on. I know we can do a good job this semester.”
As far as expectations go for both teams this year, Head Men’s and Women’s Tennis Coach Malik Tabet held similar beliefs as Hirsch, as he said that he is looking for a successful season from both sides.
“The expectations are to do the same thing [as last year in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tennis Championships], and last year the guys made it to the finals and the girls lost in the semi-finals,” he said. “This year our goal is to win it [the GLVC Tennis Championships]. We have the teams and depth to do it, and that’s what we are aiming for [this season].”
Both the men’s and women’s teams will look to improve their records this weekend, when they will host the Great Lakes Valley Conference/Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference at home. The men and women will begin their first matches of the weekend this Friday, Feb. 20, at 3 p.m., when they will both take on the Walsh University Cavaliers.
