Thomas Richter defeated #41 Austen Childs, 7-6, 6-3 |
Richter Downs Ranked Foe, Hoosiers Fall, 4-3
March 18, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Senior Thomas Richter earned a big win Tuesday afternoon inside the IU Tennis Complex, defeating Louisville's Austen Childs. Childs is the 41st ranked singles player in the latest ITA national rankings, released briefly before Tuesday's match. The Cardinals stole the team victory, however, squeezing by for a 4-3 win.
"We were ranked 38 coming in and they were 39th," said Head Coach Randy Bloemendaal. "It was supposed to be a close match, a barn-burner, and it was."
The dual match began with #38 Indiana seizing the doubles point by taking two of the three doubles contests over #39 Louisville. Seniors Dara McLoughlin and Thomas Richter rolled to an 8-3 win over Alejandro Calligari and Simon Childs at No. 2 doubles. Phillip Eilers and Lachlan Ferguson then guaranteed the 1-0 IU team advantage with a 9-7 besting of Viktor Maksimcuk and David Simon in the No. 1 doubles slot.
The team score would later be evened up at 3-3 following singles wins by Thomas Richter (No. 1) and Dara McLoughlin (No. 3). The fourth and fifth matches ended in straight-set victories for the Cardinals while No. 1 and No. 2 singles were both 7-6, 6-3 results, one in favor of each school. Richter was the 7-6, 6-3 winner for Indiana in the top slot over A. Childs. McLoughlin bested Maksimcuk by a score of 6-4, 7-6.
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In the No. 6 singles match-up, freshman Santiago Gruter bounced back from a tough 11-9 tie-breaker loss in the first set to take the second set, 6-1. The Lima, Peru native then led 4-2 in the third and was serving up 30-love, but Calligari dug himself out and managed to get by Gruter for a 7-5 third set win.
"Santi (Gruter) was put into a tough situation as freshman," said Bloemendaal. "He will learn from it and continue to get better."
"As a team we need to continue to get better," said Bloemendaal. "We fought extremely hard today and we will be put into these types of situations again."
COMPLETE RESULTS
Doubles:
No. 1- Phillip Eilers/Lachlan Ferguson (IU) def. Viktor Maksimcuk/David Simon (UL), 9-7
No. 2- Dara McLoughlin/Thomas Richter (IU) def. Alejandro Calligari/Simon Childs (UL), 8-3
No. 3- Austen Childs/James McArthur (UL) def. Peter Antons/Santiago Gruter (IU), 8-6
Singles:
No. 1- Thomas Richter (IU) def. #41 Austen Childs (UL), 7-6, 6-3
No. 2- David Simon (UL) def. Phillip Eilesr (IU), 7-6, 6-3
No. 3- Dara McLoughlin (IU) def. Viktor Maksimcuk (UL), 6-4, 7-6
No. 4- Simon Childs (UL) def. Lachlan Ferguson (IU), 6-3, 6-2
No. 5- Robert Rotaru (UL) def. Michael McCarthy (IU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 6- Alejandro Calligari (UL) def. Santiago Gruter (IU), 7-6 (11-9), 1-6, 7-5
The Cream and Crimson get back to Big Ten action on Saturday March 22 at Minnesota. The match is scheduled to begin at noon.
