University of Southern Indiana freshman James Hardiman (Blackwell Bristol, United Kingdom) was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Week. It is the first GLVC weekly award for Hardiman and the first for the Screaming Eagles since senior Joel Stern (Mjoelby, Sweden) earlier this season.
The 45th-ranked Screaming Eagles split the weekend defeating 39th-ranked Lewis University before narrowly falling to #19 University of Indianapolis by a score of 5-4. With the weekend split, the Eagles moved their record to 15-4 on the season with a 5-1 GLVC record good enough for the second seed in the East Division for this weekend’s GLVC Tennis Tournament.
Against Lewis, Hardiman teamed with junior Aaron Barris (Marietta, Georgia) to pick up the duo’s 12thconsecutive win as a doubles team. At number-three singles, Hardiman defeated the 16th ranked player in the region by a score of 6-2, 7-5.
On Saturday, USI played the toughest competition of the season in the University of Indianapolis. Hardiman and Barris again improved their undefeated streak for the season to an impressive 13 straight victories with an 8-5 win. Against the seventh-ranked Midwest Region singles player, Hardiman dropped the first set but rebounded to take the second set and the proset tiebreaker. With the win, Hardiman finished his freshman campaign with an undefeated conference record with 12 combined wins.
The Eagles now prepare the quarterfinal round of the GLVC Tournament, which begins this Friday. For the second straight season, USI will open the conference tournament with Rockhurst University in the first round. That match will begin Friday morning at 9 a.m. at Romeoville High School in Romeoville, Illinois.
