The Online Reflector

By JP Sinclair | Editorial Assistant

The University of Indianapolis men’s and women’s tennis teams are finishing up their seasons with hopes of making it to play-off contention. The teams will head to the GLVC tournament April 24-25.

After winning six matches in a row the men (13-9, 5-3 GLVC) have since hit a speed bump, only winning two of their last five matchups. The women (10-9, 4-4 GLVC) are on the outside looking in, with two matches to go and vying for a shot at regional tournament berth.

“The women have some interesting matchups left in the season, being fifth in the conference with Bellarmine upcoming,” said head coach John Venter. “We’d like to finish higher in the conference and continue to play some of our best tennis and upset some of the teams at the top.”

The men’s and women’s teams were scheduled to play Bellarmine University on April 19,  but results for both matches were not available as of The Reflector press time.

The women’s team played Kentucky Wesleyan College April 18, and won 7-2. On April 15, the men’s team went up against St. Joseph’s College. UIndy went 8-1, besting St. Joe’s in doubles and singles play. The lone loss came when the Pumas doubles team of Kris McNeary and James Smith defeated Greyhound doubles team junior Werner Henning and senior Tom Rastall.

Both teams garnered wins against Southern Indiana University on April 11. The men went 8-1, while the women went 7-2.

The men are currently seventh in the Midwest region and would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. The women are vying more for a Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament berth and a win in either of their next two matchups would put them into the tournament.

“We want to play solid tennis, and our best tennis of the season in our conference tournament,” Venter said.

Against Northern Kentucky University on April 7, the women fell in a 1-8 decision while the men lost 2-7.  Freshman Meghan Teunis earned UIndy’s lone women’s team point, scoring a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 4 singles.

“I think the season has gone good so far,” Teunis said. “We have a lot of great leadership from our upper classmen. We have potential. We just need all of the right things to come together at the right time.”

For the men, freshman Taylor Broda was the lone singles winner for UIndy, garnering a 6-2, 6-4 win at the No. 5 spot. Broda is 15-6 overall this season.

“NKU really set us back, and it put a lot of pressure on us,” Venter said. “We just need to take care of business.”

The women’s team fell in a pair of GLVC matches April 4 and 5 against  the Drury University Panthers and the Rockhurst University Hawks.

At the time, both teams were in the regional rankings, the Panthers were second and the Hawks were eighth. Against Drury, the ‘Hounds fell 1-8. Freshman

Alena Perez-Majul outdueled her opponent at No. 4 singles, coming back from a 6-3 defeat in the first set to post a 7-5 win in set two.

Junior Aly Neidlinger won at No. 6 by default for Indianapolis. In the Rockhurst match, which ended 4-5, Perez-Majul again rebounded from an opening set defeat to take the second set, this time 7-6.  She then took the match by posting a 10-7 win in the super tiebreaker, helping UIndy to singles wins at each of the bottom half of the singles lineup.

“We have been able to give a lot of collegiate playing experience to our younger players, and it will allow them to understand what it takes to win. They will do great things for us,” Venter said. During the same weekend, the men’s team fell 4-5 to No. 8 Drury and 3-6 to Rockhurst.

The ‘Hounds took the top doubles match and got a default win at No. 3 doubles for a 2-1 team lead.  But, Drury responded with wins at each of the top four singles positions to get the win. On April 5, Rockhurst took a key win at No. 2 doubles to help the Hawks lead 2-1 after doubles play. Senior JD Greenlee won at top singles, 6-2, 7-6 (1).  Broda also was victorious, winning 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 5 spot.