Ready, set, dual.
This weekend marks the beginning of dual match play for the IU women’s tennis team. IU will be host to Western Michigan at 11 a.m. and Butler at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Varsity Tennis Center.
Western Michigan is no stranger to IU. These two teams met in three of the four tournaments that were played this fall. IU Coach Ramiro Azcui and sophomore Caitlin Bernard both said Western Michigan's squad is full of strong girls that hit hard.
“I think we all have to stay really positive and be super aggressive because we know they are big hitters,” Bernard said. “The energy has to be really high for us to get a win.”
Western Michigan started dual match play last week and came away with two wins, a 6-1 victory against Oakland and a 7-0 sweep against Valparaiso.
“They are a very young and talented team,” Azcui said. “We are going to have to play really well, and hopefully we will have an advantage with it being at home and having our fans here.”
Butler lost 7-0 to Purdue last weekend. The Hoosiers squared off against the Bulldogs just once, at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional, during the fall.
“No matter the outcome of the first match we are hoping to be emotionally ready for Butler and try to prevent them from getting their first win,” Azcui said.
Coming off Christmas break, the Hoosiers have only had two weeks of practice time and one tournament to prepare them for the dual match season.
“We played like eight matches this past weekend and did a good job getting back into competition mode,” Bernard said. “We’ve been doing a lot of consistency drills at practice and being aggressive, and I think we are ready for dual match play.”
All three teams will be looking to come away with two wins this weekend, and for the Hoosiers discipline and patience will be the keys to success.
“We are going to have to play really smart and play really disciplined,” Azcui said. “It is going to be an interesting day for everybody. I always say to control what we can control so if we can do those things we’re hoping we can come away with two good wins this weekend.”
