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(02/28/13 7:56pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After losing the past three dual matches 4-3 to Tennessee, Kentucky and Notre Dame, the IU women’s tennis team has fallen out of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. The Hoosiers will look to rebound with a pair of duals on Sunday against No. 66 DePaul and UNC-Wilmington. IU will face the Blue Demons at 11 a.m. and the Seahawks at 5 p.m. at the IU Tennis Center. The Hoosiers are 8-3 this season after winning their first eight dual matches, in which they lost only two singles matches, but have lost three consecutive duals since their hot start.IU Coach Lin Loring maintains a positive attitude about the team after narrowly losing to Notre Dame last Sunday and he said the women are playing very well. “It was the best team singles we’ve played and the only matches we lost were three-setters,” Loring said. “It was a situation where we don’t have everybody totally doing everything on the same day. It’s just that a little something always goes wrong in these big matches. We put ourselves in a position to win.”Loring said this week the team practiced having better depth in the court in singles to prepare for this weekend’s dual matches. After defeating Notre Dame’s No. 30 doubles pair of Britney Sanders/Julie Sabacinski, IU senior Leslie Hureau and junior Sophie Garre are ranked No. 44 in doubles. DePaul boasts the No. 85 singles player, freshman Matea Cutura. Cutura was named the Big East Player of the Week in the first week of February after starting the season with a 14-3 singles record that included three wins against ranked opponents. The Blue Demons are 9-3 with two dominant wins over Big Ten opponents. They defeated Iowa 5-2 and Michigan State 6-1. DePaul is undefeated on the road this season and will play at No. 18 Notre Dame on Saturday before facing IU on Sunday. Loring said DePaul is as good as Notre Dame, Kentucky and Tennessee. IU is 7-3 against DePaul in the past decade. IU sophomore Carolyn Chupa was the hero in last season’s 4-3 victory against the Blue Demons when she came from behind to defeat then-sophomore Kelsey Lawson 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to give the Hoosiers in the deciding singles match. UNC-Wilmington is 4-2 this season. The Seahawks’ two losses were both in competitive 4-3 matches, including a loss to then-No. 53 William & Mary. UNC-Wilmington is 2-1 on the road and will host South Florida on Friday before travelling to Bloomington. Junior Angie Sekely was named the Colonial Athletic Association’s Women’s Tennis Player of the Week on Feb. 12, after winning a pair of singles matches in the No. 1 position against conference opponents. Loring said UNC-Wilmington will be tough because IU plays them in the second dual match this weekend. “I think we’ll be the better team but it just depends on what the DePaul match takes out of us,” he said.Loring said he expects IU to play another 4-3 match against DePaul. “You can have a three hour 4-3 match or a four and a half hour 4-3 match and I’m hoping it’s not a four and a half hour match,” he said. “We’re going to need a little bit of recovery time to get ready for Wilmington because they’re going to put a lot of balls in the court.”
(02/25/13 4:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 60 IU women’s tennis team fell to No. 22 Notre Dame on Sunday at the IU Tennis Center. The Hoosiers lost their previous two matches 4-3 on the road against Tennessee and Kentucky. For the third consecutive dual, the Hoosiers lost 4-3 after losing the final singles match.The Fighting Irish defeated Baylor on Saturday in South Bend, Ind. before traveling to Bloomington.There was fierce competition for the doubles point. Notre Dame’s Jennifer Kellner and Chrissie McGaffigan started off the dual by defeating IU’s sophomore duo, Katie Klyczek and Carolyn Chupa, 8-2. In the No. 1 match, the No. 44 combination of senior Leslie Hureau and junior Sophie Garre held off the No. 30 pair in the nation, Notre Dame’s Britney Sanders and Julie Sabacinski, 8-5. IU sophomores Alecia Kauss and Shannon Murdy started the No. 3 match with a 3-0 lead. The Fighting Irish responded to tie the match 6-6, then went up 8-7. Kauss and Murdy fought back to tie the match at eight, Notre Dame’s Quinn Gleason and Katherine White won the tiebreaker, which gave the Fighting Irish a 9-8 victory and the doubles point in the dual match. IU quickly stole the lead from Notre Dame by winning the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches in consecutive sets. Murdy defeated Julie Vrabel 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 6 match and Garre gave IU its second win just minutes later when she bested Molly O’Koniewski 6-1, 6-3. Chupa topped McGaffigan 6-2, 7-6 to give the Hoosiers a 3-1 lead. The No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles matches were all decided in three sets. In the No. 2 position, Kellner defeated Klyczek 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to bring Notre Dame within one point of IU. The Fighting Irish tied the match when Gleason bested Kauss 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 in the No. 3 match. For IU’s third dual in a row, the match came down to the final singles match. Against Tennessee, Garre’s match in the No. 4 position was the deciding point. Against Kentucky, it was Murdy who played in the pivotal No. 6 match. This time it was Hureau competing with Sanders, who is ranked No. 74 in the country, in the No. 1 singles match with the score of the dual tied at three.After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, Hureau lost the second set 7-5. Loring and Notre Dame Coach Jay Louderback sat next to each other in folding chairs sharing observations about the match at the start of the final set. The players from the two Indiana schools took a different approach as they occupied opposite sides of a nearby court. Hureau’s eight teammates lined the service box of court No. 3 as she and Sanders swapped points time and time again on court No. 4. Whether they won or lost their singles and doubles matches, the other Hoosiers’ contributions on the court were done. However, they were still fulfilling their role as teammates in supporting Hureau. “I definitely needed them because it was so hard,” Hureau said. “Every point was a battle. They really helped me get through it.”Hureau came out firing at the start of the third set. She took a 3-0 lead that kept the players’ parents on the edges of their seats as they refused to head home until the match was finished. Then fatigue kicked in for the senior from Annecy-le-Vieux, France.In between points, she stretched her quadriceps as her legs began to tire. Her first step was slower than it was at 11 a.m. — when she played her first match of the day — but she persevered through. Hureau said she tried to keep moving because if she stopped, it was hard to move again. “You don’t want to think too much about [fatigue] because there’s always a ball coming back,” she said.She fought off a 2-0 run by Sanders by winning her fourth game, putting the final set at 4-2.However, in the following game, she called a ball out of bounds that was immediately corrected by the line judge. Sanders cut the lead to 4-3.As the set continued, the cheers and the score announcements from the line judge progressively began to favor Notre Dame. Sanders pulled ahead with a 5-4 lead and Hureau dug deep to find the energy to return each ball played to her.In the final game of the three-hour match, Sanders blanked Hureau and clinched the dual by a final match score of 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. “It was pretty hard physically, the points were long and I started to cramp in the second set but I really wanted to win for the team,” Hureau said. “It was a good battle and she hit some good shots in the end. Congrats to her. I tried my best.”Loring said the loss was especially disappointing though, considering how close the team was to victory.“They came back from down 6-3 in the deciding doubles match so I give Notre Dame credit, they found a way to pull that out,” Loring said. “It’s just disappointing. It’s the third one in a row where we’re literally four or five points from the match and couldn’t close it out.”
(02/22/13 2:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After suffering its first losses of the season to Kentucky and No. 25 Tennessee on the road last weekend, No. 60 IU will look to rebound against No. 22 Notre Dame this Sunday. The Hoosiers will face the Fighting Irish at 11 a.m. at the IU Tennis Center, where IU is 5-0 this season.Despite losing both matches last weekend, IU Coach Lin Loring said he did not modify the team’s practice regimen leading up to the match against Notre Dame. “[After losing] 4-3 matches you always second guess yourself, but we’re probably going to have eight more of those the rest of the year,” Loring said. “You just have to get a break, there’s nothing really big that we need to work on. There’s really no reason to re-invent the wheel.”He said IU played well enough to win both matches against two good opponents. “It’s just one of those perfect storms where if it could go wrong, it did,” Loring said. “We had a lot of positives from it. We were literally five points from winning the match against Tennessee and we were probably two points from the match against Kentucky because the No. 1 doubles was 6-6 and we had some deuce ads.”Loring said he expects IU to play another close match against Notre Dame. “They’re really good,” he said. “They’re out of the top 20 right now, but they’ve been in the top 20 for the past seven or eight years. I wouldn’t doubt if this one is going to be a 4-3 match.”Notre Dame is 5-3 and has played host to Big Ten opponents. The Fighting Irish have defeated Bowling Green, Illinois, No. 22 Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Iowa. No. 17 Nebraska, No. 24 Purdue and No. 10 Northwestern have all topped Notre Dame in dual matches this season. The Fighting Irish will face Baylor at home on Friday before traveling to Bloomington. Notre Dame junior Britney Sanders is the No. 74 singles player in the country. The Fighting Irish have three doubles pairs ranked. Julie Sabacinski/Sanders are No. 26, Sanders/Julie Vrabel are No. 30 and Jennifer Kellner/Molly O’Koniewski are No. 59.IU has faced Notre Dame twice in tournaments last fall. At the adidas Hoosier Classic, IU was 5-5 in singles and 1-2 in doubles against the Fighting Irish. At the Western Michigan University Super Challenge, the Hoosiers were a perfect 3-0 in singles and they split their two doubles matches against Notre Dame. “We played well against them in our fall tournament so we’ve seen them before,” Loring said. “They’re really good, they’re really deep and we’re going to have to play really well to beat them.”The Fighting Irish have had IU’s number in the new millennium. The archived results on IUHoosiers.com dating back to the 1997-98 season and IU has not recorded a victory against Notre Dame in that time span. In the past seven years against the Fighting Irish, IU hasn’t scored more than one point in a dual match. “We’ll probably have to play as well as we did against Tennessee and a little better if we’re going to beat them,” Loring said.
(02/21/13 9:44pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After suffering its first losses of the season to Kentucky and No. 25 Tennessee on the road last weekend, No. 60 IU will look to rebound against No. 22 Notre Dame this Sunday. The Hoosiers will face the Fighting Irish at 11 a.m. at the IU Tennis Center, where IU is 5-0 this season.Despite losing both matches last weekend, IU Coach Lin Loring said he did not modify the team’s practice regimen leading up to the match against Notre Dame. “[After losing] 4-3 matches you always second guess yourself, but we’re probably going to have eight more of those the rest of the year,” Loring said. “You just have to get a break, there’s nothing really big that we need to work on. There’s really no reason to re-invent the wheel.”He said IU played well enough to win both matches against two good opponents. “It’s just one of those perfect storms where if it could go wrong, it did,” Loring said. “We had a lot of positives from it. We were literally five points from winning the match against Tennessee and we were probably two points from the match against Kentucky because the No. 1 doubles was 6-6 and we had some deuce ads.”Loring said he expects IU to play another close match against Notre Dame. “They’re really good,” he said. “They’re out of the top 20 right now, but they’ve been in the top 20 for the past seven or eight years. I wouldn’t doubt if this one is going to be a 4-3 match.”Notre Dame is 5-3 and has played host to Big Ten opponents. The Fighting Irish have defeated Bowling Green, Illinois, No. 22 Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Iowa. No. 17 Nebraska, No. 24 Purdue and No. 10 Northwestern have all topped Notre Dame in dual matches this season. The Fighting Irish will face Baylor at home on Friday before traveling to Bloomington. Notre Dame junior Britney Sanders is the No. 74 singles player in the country. The Fighting Irish have three doubles pairs ranked. Julie Sabacinski/Sanders are No. 26, Sanders/Julie Vrabel are No. 30 and Jennifer Kellner/Molly O’Koniewski are No. 59.IU has faced Notre Dame twice in tournaments last fall. At the adidas Hoosier Classic, IU was 5-5 in singles and 1-2 in doubles against the Fighting Irish. At the Western Michigan University Super Challenge, the Hoosiers were a perfect 3-0 in singles and they split their two doubles matches against Notre Dame. “We played well against them in our fall tournament so we’ve seen them before,” Loring said. “They’re really good, they’re really deep and we’re going to have to play really well to beat them.”The Fighting Irish have had IU’s number in the new millennium. The archived results on IUHoosiers.com dating back to the 1997-98 season and IU has not recorded a victory against Notre Dame in that time span. In the past seven years against the Fighting Irish, IU hasn’t scored more than one point in a dual match. “We’ll probably have to play as well as we did against Tennessee and a little better if we’re going to beat them,” Loring said.
(02/18/13 4:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Entering the weekend, IU Coach Lin Loring said the No. 54 Hoosiers might not be favored in a dual match for the rest of the season due to the strength of the competition. After starting the spring season with an eight-match win streak, in which IU won all of the matches with a score of 6-1 or 7-0, the Hoosiers had their first losses of the season this past weekend on the road to SEC opponents, which Loring said is the toughest conference in the country. On Friday, IU lost to No. 25 Tennessee, and the Hoosiers fell to Kentucky on Sunday. The Hoosiers were tied 3-3 heading into the final singles match against both the Volunteers and Wildcats, but were unable to pull off a victory on either occasion. The Hoosiers’ match against Tennessee at the Goodfriend Tennis Center was the team’s first match against a ranked opponent this season.IU started its match against Tennessee by winning the No. 2 doubles match. Sophomores Carolyn Chupa and Katie Klyczek defeated Tennessee’s Joanna Henderson and Caitlyn Williams, 8-5. Tennessee responded by winning the No. 1 match, in which the No. 3 doubles pair in the country, Brynn Boren and Kata Szekely, topped IU’s No. 44 junior Sophie Garre and senior Leslie Hureau, 8-5.After the teams split the first two doubles matches, sophomores Alecia Kauss and Shannon Murdy battled back from an early deficit to win the No. 3 doubles match 9-7 against Tennessee’s Sarah Toti and Mimi Fotopoulos, which gave IU a 1-0 lead.Loring said it was good for the Hoosiers to be able to start the match by winning the doubles point. He said it showed improvement from past IU teams and it had been a few years since IU had won the doubles point against a top-25 team.Tennessee tied the score when Hureau retired during the No. 1 singles match against No. 18 Boren, 6-0, 1-0. Hureau pulled her quadriceps muscle in the match and Loring said she retired because the team would need her against Kentucky. Volunteer senior Szekely bested Klyczek 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 2 position. IU gained its first singles win when Murdy defeated Toti 6-0, 6-3 in the No. 6 match. The Hoosiers took a 3-2 lead and came within one point of the victory when Chupa topped Fotopoulos 6-3, 6-4.The Volunteers tied the match at three, however, when Williams knocked off Kauss 6-4, 7-6. The No. 4 singles match was the only one not won in consecutive sets. Garre won the first set 6-4. Henderson bounced back and won the second set 6-1. Garre took a 3-2 lead in the final set, but Henderson won the set 6-4, which gave Tennessee a 4-3 victory. Even though the Hoosiers lost, Loring said the women competed very hard, especially since it was IU’s first road match against a top-25 team.“We didn’t know quite what to expect because we hadn’t played a team at that level, especially on the road,” he said. “I thought we responded well and we were close enough to win. That’s why those losses are kind of painful because we were in the match.”Loring said the Hoosiers had an easy practice Saturday in the Boone Tennis Complex at Kentucky to adjust to the courts and to be prepared for their match against the Wildcats.For the first time this season, IU lost the doubles point. Kauss and Murdy won the No. 3 match against Kirsten Lewis and Jessica Stiles 8-3, but the Wildcats took the No. 1 and No. 2 matches.Kentucky took a 3-0 lead when Nadia Ravita and Jessica Stiles won the No. 1 and No. 2 matches, respectively, in consecutive sets.However, IU stormed back to tie the match by winning the No. 4, No. 3 and No. 5 singles matches. Garre defeated Lewis 2-6, 6-0, 6-2; Kauss topped Edmee Morin-Kougoucheff 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; and Chupa bested Caitlin McGraw 6-0, 6-1. For the second time in three days, IU’s match came down to the final singles match. In the No. 6 match, Kentucky’s Stephanie Fox defeated Murdy 6-2, 6-1, which gave Kentucky a 4-3 advantage in the match. Loring said that the team needs to learn from this weekend’s matches, get better and move on because every match the rest of the season will be just like those.“This was a very disappointing weekend because we played good enough to win at least one of these tough road matches,” Loring said. “We just couldn’t get everyone to play good at the same time. “We had some outstanding performances each day but not enough at the same time.”
(02/15/13 4:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 54 IU women’s tennis team is 8-0 after defeating Xavier and Ball State in Bloomington last weekend. The Hoosiers will play their first weekday match of the spring season when they travel to Knoxville, Tenn. to face No. 25 Tennessee at 4 p.m. Friday. At 11 a.m. Sunday, IU will take on Kentucky in Lexington, Ky. IU Coach Lin Loring said an ideal schedule is one divided evenly into three segments: matches in which IU is favored, matches that are a toss-up and matches in which IU’s opponent is favored. The Hoosiers were favored in their first eight matches, but he said the team will face much tougher competition. Loring said IU is transitioning to the second and third phases of its schedule with the team’s matches this week.With better opponents comes ranked competition. Tennessee has two ranked singles players and one ranked doubles pair. Junior Brynn Boren is No. 18 in singles and senior Kata Szekely is No. 34. In doubles, Szekely and Boren are the No. 3 combination in the country.For IU, senior Leslie Hureau and junior Sophie Garre are ranked No. 44 in doubles.The Lady Volunteers are 0-4 this season with losses to No. 17 Nebraska, No. 22 Georgia Tech, No. 16 Michigan and No. 18 Notre Dame. All four losses were by a margin of 4-2 or 4-3 on the road. In the past decade, IU is 3-7 against Tennessee and the Hoosiers have lost 5-2 to the Volunteers in each of the past two seasons.Loring said Tennessee is traditionally very good and the Volunteers are normally a top-20 team, which is why he said the Vols are probably favored in the dual match.He said the Volunteers’ challenging schedule and IU’s experience on the road has prepared both teams for Friday’s dual match.“I think they’re definitely ready for us because they’ve played tough competition,” Loring said. “We’ve played on the road already twice so I think it’s going to come down to who plays best that day.”Kentucky is 4-2 with wins against Morehead State, Belmont, Marshall and Ohio State. The Wildcats suffered a 4-3 loss to No. 48 Penn State as well as a 6-1 defeat against Tulane. In the past decade, IU is 6-3 against Kentucky, including a current Hoosiers win streak of three dual matches.Loring said Sunday’s match will be a toss-up between the two teams.“We beat them the past two years, but last night they beat Ohio State 4-3 and Ohio State is always a good Big Ten team,” he said. “They’re better this year than they have been, and that’s going to be a tough road match too.”Loring said similarly to Big Ten teams, IU should be familiar with Tennessee and Kentucky’s players since the Hoosiers play them on an annual basis. “We’ve already played twice on the road and Tennessee has a really nice new facility so hopefully we won’t have any adjustment problems,” Loring said. “Kentucky will probably be a little faster but hopefully it won’t be as fast as Marshall.”IU will practice Saturday at Kentucky to acclimate to the new courts and the Hoosiers will have a the day to prepare for their second dual match in three days.“Hopefully the experience we’ve had so far will get us ready for them,” Loring said. “We know we have two really good SEC schools on the road this weekend.”
(02/14/13 10:26pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 54 IU women’s tennis team is 8-0 after defeating Xavier and Ball State in Bloomington last weekend. The Hoosiers will play their first weekday match of the spring season when they travel to Knoxville, Tenn. to face No. 25 Tennessee at 4 p.m. Friday.At 11 a.m. Sunday, IU will take on Kentucky in Lexington, Ky. IU Coach Lin Loring said an ideal schedule is one divided evenly into three segments: matches in which IU is favored, matches that are a toss-up and matches in which IU’s opponent is favored. The Hoosiers were favored in their first eight matches, but he said the team will face much tougher competition. Loring said IU is transitioning to the second and third phases of its schedule with the team’s matches this week.With better opponents comes ranked competition. Tennessee has two ranked singles players and one ranked doubles pair. Junior Brynn Boren is No. 18 in singles and senior Kata Szekely is No. 34. In doubles, Szekely/Boren are the No. 3 combination in the country.For IU, senior Leslie Hureau and junior Sophie Garre are ranked No. 44 in doubles.The Lady Volunteers are 0-4 this season with losses to No. 17 Nebraska, No. 22 Georgia Tech, No. 16 Michigan and No. 18 Notre Dame. All four losses were by a margin of 4-2 or 4-3 on the road. In the past decade, IU is 3-7 against Tennessee and the Hoosiers have lost 5-2 to the Volunteers in each of the past two seasons.Loring said Tennessee is traditionally very good and the Volunteers are normally a top-20 team, which is why he said the Vols are probably favored in the dual match. He said the Volunteers’ challenging schedule and IU’s experience on the road has prepared both teams for Friday’s dual match.“I think they’re definitely ready for us because they’ve played tough competition,” IU Coach Loring said. “We’ve played on the road already twice so I think it’s going to come down to who plays best that day.”Kentucky is 4-2 with wins against Morehead State, Belmont, Marshall and Ohio State. The Wildcats suffered a 4-3 loss to No. 48 Penn State as well as a 6-1 defeat against Tulane. In the past decade, IU is 6-3 against Kentucky, including a current Hoosiers win streak of three dual matches.IU Coach Loring said Sunday’s match will be a toss-up between the two teams.“We beat them the past two years, but last night they beat Ohio State 4-3 and Ohio State is always a good Big Ten team,” he said. “They’re better this year than they have been, and that’s going to be a tough road match too.”Loring said similarly to Big Ten teams, IU should be familiar with Tennessee and Kentucky’s players since the Hoosiers play them on an annual basis. However, he said this weekend’s SEC road trip will be a new experience for the sophomore class, which is a disadvantage for IU. “We’ve already played twice on the road and Tennessee has a really nice new facility so hopefully we won’t have any adjustment problems,” Loring said. “Kentucky will probably be a little faster but hopefully it won’t be as fast as Marshall.”IU will practice on Saturday at the University of Kentucky to become acclimated to the new courts and the Hoosiers will have a the day to prepare for their second dual match in three days.“Hopefully the experience we’ve had so far will get us ready for them,” IU Coach Loring said. “We know we have two really good SEC schools on the road this weekend.”
(02/08/13 5:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 51 IU women’s tennis team surrendered its first point of the season to Marshall last weekend but still managed to win the dual match to continue its undefeated streak through the first six matches of 2013. The Hoosiers had this week off and will face Xavier and Ball State this Sunday. IU faces Xavier at 11 a.m. and Ball State at 4 p.m. at the IU Tennis Center. Indiana’s doubles pairing of senior Leslie Hureau and junior Sophie Garre are ranked No. 31 in the nation. Neither Xavier nor Ball State has any ranked singles or doubles players.The Musketeers are 4-1 this season. IU and Xavier’s one common opponent this season is the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks. Indiana won by a margin of 7-0 and Xavier won 4-3. IU Coach Lin Loring said that Xavier’s victory against Miami is normally a good win for the Musketeers and he said that he expects Xavier to be tougher than they were last year. Indiana has played Xavier three times in the past five years and the Hoosiers won 7-0 in each match. Ball State this season is 5-1. The Cardinals’ loss was to Michigan State, who Indiana will play on March 30 in East Lansing, Mich. IU plays Ball State on an annual basis and the Hoosiers have won every dual match against the Cardinals in the past decade, allowing no more than two points in a match. Loring said that Ball State’s women’s tennis program is on its way up, however, with Coach Christine Bader in her third season with the Cardinals. “She played at Michigan State so I think that team is going to get a little stronger every year,” Loring said. Loring said that he thinks Ball State is the weaker of Indiana’s two opponents this weekend, which is why the Hoosiers are playing them in their second dual match Sunday.Even though the Hoosiers suffered their first singles and doubles losses against Marshall, Loring said that the team isn’t changing its approach to its practices.“We’re going to keep working on the stuff we’ve been working on because we probably should have lost a few points up until now,” he said.Loring said that Indiana’s greatest quality this season is its consistency, which could be a major reason why the Hoosiers are a 41-1 during their first six dual matches of the spring season. He said that the team’s goal is to bring its A-game every match.“We really haven’t had any matches where the team as a whole struggled and I’m not just talking about winning or losing. Our level of play has been pretty high,” Loring said. “We really want to continue a consistent level of play and if it’s good enough to win, we win, but if not, we’ll lose but at least we brought our A-game.”
(02/05/13 2:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 51 IU women’s tennis team allowed a point for the first time in the spring season. On Sunday, the Hoosiers faced Marshall at the Huntington Tennis Club in Barboursville, W.Va. Despite losing one match in both singles and doubles play, the Hoosiers still cruised to their sixth win of the season against the Thundering Herd with a 6-1 score. The Huntington Tennis Club has only five tennis courts, and IU Coach Lin Loring said that it made the dual match take longer. The teams had to wait until another match finished before starting the No. 6 singles match. Loring said it was a good experience for the Hoosiers to play on the road and experience new court conditions.“The lighting was poor, the courts were fast and the courts played to Marshall’s favor,” he said. “They have a lot of big hitters, players that I would call first strike hitters, but we didn’t try to out-hit them, and we stuck to our game plan.”Senior Leslie Hureau won the No. 1 singles match against Dominika Zaprazna 6-1, 7-5. Sophomore Katie Klyczek lost the first set against Maria Voscekova but came from behind to win 2-6, 6-4, 10-5. Sophomores Alecia Kauss and Carolyn Chupa, along with junior Sophie Garre, won their matches in straight sets. Kauss was the first to win her match, a 6-1, 6-2 victory, which allowed sophomore Shannon Murdy and Marshall’s Karlyn Timko to play their match on the open court.Loring said Murdy had a bad match against big-hitter Timko. He said that as there are only five courts, by the time the No. 6 singles match was played, Indiana had already won the dual match and Timko could play with no pressure. Murdy lost in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.In doubles, Marshall’s Zaprazna and Voscekova defeated the No. 31 nationally ranked combination of Hureau and Garre 8-4 in the No. 1 doubles match. In the No. 2 match, Chupa and Klyczek defeated Ellie Ball and Kara Kucin 8-3. Since Indiana and Marshall split the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches, the third doubles match determined which team would win the doubles point.Kauss and Murdy came from behind to top Timko and Dana Oppinger 9-7.“It was pretty exciting for us,” Loring said. “We were down 7-6, maybe 7-5, so that was a nice comeback and good experience for us.”Indiana will return to action when they play Xavier at 11 a.m. and Ball State at 4 p.m. Sunday at the IU Tennis Center.
(02/04/13 9:03pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 51 IU women’s tennis team allowed a point for the first time in the spring season, On Sunday, the Hoosiers faced Marshall at the Huntington Tennis Club in Barboursville, W.Va. Despite losing one match in both singles and doubles play, the Hoosiers still cruised to their sixth win of the season against the Thundering Herd by a 6-1 score. The Huntington Tennis Club has only five tennis courts and IU Coach Lin Loring said that it made the dual match take longer. The teams had to wait until another match finished before starting the No. 6 singles match. Loring said it was a good experience for the Hoosiers to play on the road and experience new court conditions.“The lighting was poor, the courts were fast and the courts played to Marshall’s favor,” he said. “They have a lot of big hitters, players that I would call first strike hitters, but we didn’t try to out-hit them and we stuck to our game plan.”Senior Leslie Hureau won the No. 1 singles match against Dominika Zaprazna 6-1, 7-5. Sophomore Katie Klyczek lost the first set against Maria Voscekova but came from behind to win 2-6, 6-4, 10-5. Sophomores Alecia Kauss and Carolyn Chupa, along with junior Sophie Garre, won their matches in straight sets. Kauss was the first to win her match, a 6-1, 6-2 victory, which allowed sophomore Shannon Murdy and Marshall’s Karlyn Timko to play their match on the open court.Loring said Murdy had a bad match against big-hitter Timko. He said that as there are only five courts, by the time the No. 6 singles match was played, Indiana had already won the dual match and Timko could play with no pressure. Murdy lost in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.In doubles, Marshall’s Zaprazna and Voscekova defeated the No. 31 nationally ranked combination of Hureau and Garre 8-4 in the No. 1 doubles match. In the No. 2 match, Chupa and Klyczek defeated Ellie Ball and Kara Kucin 8-3. Since Indiana and Marshall split the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches, the third doubles match determined which team would win the doubles point.Kauss and Murdy came from behind to top Timko and Dana Oppinger 9-7.“It was pretty exciting for us,” Loring said. “We were down 7-6, maybe 7-5, so that was a nice comeback and good experience for us.”Indiana will return to action when they host Xavier at 11 a.m. and Ball State at 4 p.m. Sunday at the IU Tennis Center.
(02/01/13 3:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 51 IU women’s tennis team defeated Marquette, Western Michigan and Butler by a margin of 7-0 in each match last weekend to extend its record to 5-0. The team will be back in action Sunday, Feb. 3.The Hoosiers will travel to Huntington, W.Va. to face the Marshall Thundering Herd at 10 a.m.Marshall is 2-1 in the spring season. The Thundering Herd defeated Eastern Michigan 4-3 and Morehead State 5-2. The team’s only loss was against West Virginia last Saturday.IU’s doubles combination of senior Leslie Hureau and junior Sophie Garre is No. 31 in the country. Marshall does not have any ranked singles or doubles players.Sunday’s dual match will be the first time IU has ever faced Marshall. Even though this weekend will be the Hoosiers’ first dual match against the Thundering Herd, IU Coach Lin Loring said the team is preparing according to its normal routine in the practices leading up to a dual match. “We just have to worry about us and that’s pretty much what we’ve done,” he said. “We always have some notes on the other players and some basic game plans but we just have to keep doing things a little better.”Loring said that every week the team picks one or two things they want to improve upon. He said they’ve done a pretty good job at getting better in one or two areas in each week and they need to continue that trend in order to win.Even though Sunday’s dual match will be the first between the two schools, Loring said he is familiar with Marshall’s coaches. “I’ve known the coaches for a long time,” he said. “We’ve just never played them. We finally decided we would try to get a home and away going with them because it’s like a five hour drive, so it’s reasonable.”Two of the coaches, John and Laurie Mercer, are married and have both been Marshall’s women’s tennis head coach. Loring said Laurie Mercer used to be the head coach before having their third child and then John took over. This weekend’s match will be atypical because there are only five courts at Marshall’s tennis facility. “That throws a little different wrinkle in the match, especially if the match is live when the last court goes on for the first turnover,” Loring said. “We know it’s going to be a long day because we have to turn the courts an extra time so that throws in a little challenge.”Most college tennis centers have at least six courts so that all six singles matches can be played at the same time in a dual match.Not only will the number of courts add a challenge to the dual match but so will the condition of Marshall’s courts.“To tell you the truth, I don’t know about their courts,” Loring said. “I don’t know if they’re fast or slow. We’ll get there Saturday and have a practice before we play them Sunday but I really don’t know much about them.”
(01/31/13 7:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two years ago, IU Coach Lin Loring and Associate Head Coach Ramiro Azcui compiled the 10th-best recruiting class in the nation, according to Tennis Recruiting Network. Indiana’s five-member freshman class of 2011 included four five-star recruits.The new Hoosiers were Carolyn Chupa from Bradenton, Fla., Alecia Kauss from Overland Park, Kan., Katie Klyczek from Munster, Ind., Shannon Murdy from Atlanta and Ariel Beckerman from Santa Barbara, Calif.Though Beckerman is no longer on the team, Loring said the four others remain and have made an impact on the Hoosiers in the 2012-13 season.Choosing IULoring said the Kelley School of Business was a major factor in the women’s decisions to become Hoosiers. He said with the exception of Klyczek, they all wanted to be business students. “The Kelley School of Business was a huge draw,” he said. “Scott Dobos, a professor in the business school, had lunch with all of them, and he was three-for-three on the business school girls.” Loring said all of the women had ties to the Midwest or the Big Ten.“Katie turned down some scholarships to other schools and just ended up, I think, wanting to stay in-state,” he said. “I think she picked us more for being close to home and in-state, but the other girls all had Big Ten or Midwest ties of some sort.” He said Chupa is originally from Michigan, and her sister was in school at Wisconsin at the time of her college decision. Loring said he thinks Kauss’ mom went to Iowa and her dad went to Nebraska. He said Murdy had relatives in Ohio. “When I visited, I could tell that the team really had a bond with each other that a lot of other teams can’t say, so I was really impressed by that,” Murdy said.Kauss said she chose to play tennis at IU because of the coaches and the team which were major factors in her decision. “Carolyn and I were on the same official visit, and I loved the girls,” she said. “I always had a lot of respect for the coaches, so they were a big part of it.”Freshman YearIn the 2011-12 campaign, the five freshmen made an immediate impact on the team. Collectively, they posted a 77-54 singles record and a 72-53 overall doubles record for the 16-11 Hoosiers. They achieved those records without making major adjustments in their tennis games in their first year of college, Loring said. “The freshman year is always so challenging for them, because the coach is new, the food is new, everything is so new,” Loring said. “We didn’t do a lot of changing in their games, because that’s kind of their security blanket their freshman year. The only thing that is familiar with them is their tennis game.”Klyczek solidified herself as the team’s No. 3 singles player and played in that position for two-thirds of Indiana’s dual matches. Chupa split time between the No. 3 and No. 4 spots. Kauss commanded the No. 5 singles position. Murdy was the team’s second option for both the fifth and sixth singles positions. Klyczek and Kauss were two of the team’s top three players in terms of singles victories last season. Evgeniya Vertesheva graduated last year, and junior Kayla Fujimoto, who was 22-9 in singles and 29-13 overall in doubles last season, suffered a season-ending injury, which meant that the now-sophomores had significant players to replace. Sophomore YearLoring said he thinks all of the players have improved tremendously this year.“We’ve already made a lot more changes and worked on
(01/28/13 3:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 50 IU women’s tennis team continued its perfect start to the spring season with three more 7-0 victories this weekend. IU has won all five of its dual matches this season by that margin.Despite the women’s early season success, IU Coach Lin Loring said the team has not let the perfect record get to their heads.“All the girls know the things we’re working on and we don’t really talk about winning and losing or scores,” Loring said. “There are just certain things we want to do better so we keep on working on those. It really wouldn’t matter what the score of those matches were, we still have certain things that we want to keep working on.”On Saturday morning, the Hoosiers won their third consecutive dual match without losing a singles or doubles match when they defeated Marquette 7-0. All seven singles players won their matches in consecutive sets.At the No. 1 position, senior Leslie Hureau defeated Ana Pimienta 6-3, 6-0. Sophomore Alecia Kauss won the No. 2 singles match against Rocio Diaz 7-6 (2), 6-3. In doubles, Hureau and junior Sophie Garre defeated Diaz and Ali Dawson 8-3. Sophomores Carolyn Chupa and Katie Klyczek topped Dawson and Erin Gebes 8-5. Sophomore Shannon Murdy and Kauss won their match against Aleeza Kanner/Aina Hernandez Soler 8-4. IU swept Western Michigan and last week’s MAC Player of the Week, Nini Sujashvili, on Sunday morning.In the No. 1 singles match, Hureau defeated Sujaskvili 6-1, 6-2. Klyczek followed suit at No. 2 by beating Kathleen Hawkins by the same margin in straight sets. IU won all three doubles matches against Western Michigan by 8-1 scores.Loring said the team’s doubles play was one of the most complete performances the team has had in a long time.“This weekend, specifically today, I was really pleased with our doubles against Western Michigan,” he said. “We served well. We returned well. We played good defense and it was about as complete a team match of doubles that we’ve had in quite a while. When the girls realized that they were playing a match that they were probably going to win, they didn’t let up.”IU finished its busy weekend by dominating Butler on Sunday afternoon. Junior Gabrielle Rubenstein played for the Bulldogs during her first two years of college before joining the Hoosiers last August. She won her singles match against Clare Cornelius, 6-0, 6-0.“It’s always a little bit weird but I want to represent IU well and win,” she said. “It’s competition, and you can’t take friendships into account in competition.” Butler was IU’s third opponent in two days and the Hoosiers finished the weekend with the team’s fifth consecutive 7-0 victory and third straight dual without losing a set.“We do a good job of stretching afterwards and making sure to eat right and hydrate,” Rubenstein said. “That’s what you really need to recover between that many matches.”IU swept the six singles matches and did not lose a single game in half of them. Senior Jithmie Jayawickrema and Garre joined Rubenstein in defeating their opponents 6-0, 6-0. Kauss won the No. 2 match 6-0, 6-2. Chupa and Hureau capped off IU’s perfect singles performance with 6-1, 6-3 victories.Rubenstein credited IU’s success to the women’s abilities to stick to their individual game plans. “Every match we just try to go into focusing on specific goals for our own matches and what we want to work on and improve on,” she said. “You want to stay focused on your game plan, and it’s not necessarily about the score. It’s always about trying to improve every single match.”The Hoosiers have a lighter schedule next weekend when they face Marshall at 10 a.m. Sunday in Huntington, W.Va. Loring said the Hoosiers will not play this many weekend dual matches as the season progresses. “As we get further in the season, we don’t do that because we want our legs under us, and we’ll be getting tired,” he said. “It was good for today, but we’d never do that on the road because we’re a little fresher at home. Sometimes things come out in your game when you’re tired so it was good for us.”
(01/28/13 3:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 50 IU women’s tennis team continued its perfect start to the spring season with three more 7-0 victories this weekend. IU has won all five of its dual matches this season by that margin.Despite the women’s early season success, IU Coach Lin Loring said the team has not let the perfect record get to their heads.“All the girls know the things we’re working on and we don’t really talk about winning and losing or scores,” Loring said. “There are just certain things we want to do better so we keep on working on those. It really wouldn’t matter what the score of those matches were, we still have certain things that we want to keep working on.”On Saturday morning, the Hoosiers won their third consecutive dual match without losing a singles or doubles match when they defeated Marquette 7-0. All seven singles players won their matches in consecutive sets.At the No. 1 position, senior Leslie Hureau defeated Ana Pimienta 6-3, 6-0. Sophomore Alecia Kauss won the No. 2 singles match against Rocio Diaz 7-6 (2), 6-3. In doubles, Hureau and junior Sophie Garre defeated Diaz and Ali Dawson 8-3. Sophomores Carolyn Chupa and Katie Klyczek topped Dawson and Erin Gebes 8-5. Sophomore Shannon Murdy and Kauss won their match against Aleeza Kanner/Aina Hernandez Soler 8-4. IU swept Western Michigan and last week’s MAC Player of the Week, Nini Sujashvili, on Sunday morning.In the No. 1 singles match, Hureau defeated Sujaskvili 6-1, 6-2. Klyczek followed suit at No. 2 by beating Kathleen Hawkins by the same margin in straight sets. IU won all three doubles matches against Western Michigan by 8-1 scores.Loring said the team’s doubles play was one of the most complete performances the team has had in a long time.“This weekend, specifically today, I was really pleased with our doubles against Western Michigan,” he said. “We served well. We returned well. We played good defense and it was about as complete a team match of doubles that we’ve had in quite a while. When the girls realized that they were playing a match that they were probably going to win, they didn’t let up.”IU finished its busy weekend by dominating Butler on Sunday afternoon. Junior Gabrielle Rubenstein played for the Bulldogs during her first two years of college before joining the Hoosiers last August. She won her singles match against Clare Cornelius, 6-0, 6-0.“It’s always a little bit weird but I want to represent IU well and win,” she said. “It’s competition, and you can’t take friendships into account in competition.” Butler was IU’s third opponent in two days and the Hoosiers finished the weekend with the team’s fifth consecutive 7-0 victory and third straight dual without losing a set.“We do a good job of stretching afterwards and making sure to eat right and hydrate,” Rubenstein said. “That’s what you really need to recover between that many matches.”IU swept the six singles matches and did not lose a single game in half of them. Senior Jithmie Jayawickrema and Garre joined Rubenstein in defeating their opponents 6-0, 6-0. Kauss won the No. 2 match 6-0, 6-2. Chupa and Hureau capped off IU’s perfect singles performance with 6-1, 6-3 victories.Rubenstein credited IU’s success to the women’s abilities to stick to their individual game plans. “Every match we just try to go into focusing on specific goals for our own matches and what we want to work on and improve on,” she said. “You want to stay focused on your game plan, and it’s not necessarily about the score. It’s always about trying to improve every single match.”The Hoosiers have a lighter schedule next weekend when they face Marshall at 10 a.m. Sunday in Huntington, W.Va. Loring said the Hoosiers will not play this many weekend dual matches as the season progresses. “As we get further in the season, we don’t do that because we want our legs under us, and we’ll be getting tired,” he said. “It was good for today, but we’d never do that on the road because we’re a little fresher at home. Sometimes things come out in your game when you’re tired so it was good for us.”
(01/25/13 5:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After an opening weekend in which the IU women’s tennis team defeated both Miami (Ohio) and Cincinnati 7-0, the No. 50 Hoosiers will play three dual matches this weekend at the IU Tennis Center. The team will face Marquette 11 a.m. Saturday. The women will then compete against Western Michigan at 11 a.m. and Butler at 4 p.m. Sunday. While IU has not competed against any of the three opponents in a dual match this school year, the women’s tennis team is familiar with Marquette and Western Michigan after playing against them in tournaments.IU competed against Marquette and Western Michigan in the Western Michigan University Super Challenge last November. In their head-to-head matches, the Hoosiers were 2-0 in both singles and doubles against the Golden Eagles.IU split its two singles matches against Western Michigan in the tournament.IU Coach Lin Loring said Western Michigan usually finishes in the top two teams in the Mid-American Conference and the best MAC schools are capable of beating Big Ten schools.Two weeks ago, Marquette played in the four-team adidas IU Winter Invitational. IU posted a 2-0 record in singles and was 6-0 in doubles play against MU.“We have notes from playing them last year and playing them this year so that will help prepare us,” Loring said. “We’ll know what their tendencies are in singles and doubles and we’ll prepare accordingly.”Sophomore Carolyn Chupa said IU will prepare the same way as when the team played Marquette and Western Michigan in tournaments earlier in the season. However, she said the team’s mindset will be different this time around since it is playing dual matches instead of a tournament. IU also has a connection to Butler, who Loring said is the weakest of the Hoosiers’ three opponents on paper. Junior Gabrielle Rubenstein transferred to IU in August after playing for Butler in her first two years of college. None of IU’s opponents are ranked as a team and the Hoosiers will not face any ranked singles players or doubles combinations. IU’s pair of players from France, junior Sophie Garre and senior Leslie Hureau, are No. 31 in doubles. Marquette is 1-1 in dual matches this season after a 5-2 loss to Minnesota and a 6-1 win against Montana. Similar to IU, Western Michigan is off to a 2-0 start after a pair of 7-0 victories against Dayton and Valpariaso. Butler is 1-0 after a 5-2 win against Dayton. Chupa said she was out last weekend with the flu and there are a few minor injuries with which players are dealing. However, Loring said the ailments will not set the team back.“Between the flu and the stomach virus going around, that could all change by Saturday, but right now everybody is healthy,” Loring said.He said IU’s biggest challenge this weekend will be playing three matches in two days. Even though the Hoosiers are returning to full strength, he said the team has “pretty good depth” in case a player aggravates a previous injury or becomes ill.“Hopefully we’ll be able to rotate some people around if anybody does get a little nagging injury or if anyone isn’t feeing well,” Loring said. “Western Michigan is playing a match Saturday before they come here so I think there will be a level playing field.”
(01/22/13 3:43pm)
The No. 49 Indiana Hoosiers women’s tennis team traveled to
Cincinnati on Saturday to play its first dual matches of the season against
Miami (OH) and Cincinnati. The women did not lose a singles or doubles match
against either team and Indiana is off to a 2-0 start in the spring season.
(01/18/13 5:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After posting a 27-5 team record in last weekend’s adidas IU Winter Invitational, the IU women’s tennis team will play its first dual matches of the season on Saturday. No. 49 IU will travel to Cincinnati to face the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks at 11 a.m. followed by a match against the Cincinnati Bearcats at 4 p.m. IU has faced at least one of the two Ohio schools every year since the 2005-06 season. The Hoosiers have been 6-0 against Miami and 3-0 against Cincinnati. IU dominated those matchups, winning all seven dual match points on four occasions and winning six points in two other instances. Neither Miami nor Cincinnati has any nationally ranked singles or doubles players. IU has the No. 31 doubles combination of senior Leslie Hureau and junior Sophie Garre.The Hoosiers are favored to win both matches, and IU Coach Lin Loring said he expects tougher competition against Miami. “Miami is traditionally one of the best MAC schools and as you know from football, volleyball, basketball, the best MAC schools can beat Big Ten schools,” he said. “Miami and Western Michigan are always one and two in the MAC and that will be a good match to start the season with.”Loring is familiar with Cincinnati Coach Angela Wilson, who played tennis at IU from 1983 to 1987 and was a member of two Big Ten Championship teams. He said she is doing a “good job of building” Cincinnati’s women’s tennis program, but the Bearcats are still “a level below,” which is why IU is playing them after Miami.“Early in the season is always a tough time to play somebody because you don’t know quite what to expect, especially because they have three new players,” Loring said. “It’s kind of the unknown, which will be the biggest challenge in that match for us.”Dual matches have six singles matches and three doubles matches. Each win in a singles match counts as one point and the school that wins the majority of the doubles matches wins the doubles point. With seven points in each dual match, the team that wins the majority of the total points wins the match.“It’s still a tennis match but it’s more of a team thing so you have to take care of your court and win your match,” Hureau said. “You also want to support the other girls because at the end of the day we have to win as a team.”IU is looking to return to full strength after two players were injured over the weekend. Hureau hurt her right wrist in a match and sophomore Shannon Murdy was hit by a ball at the net.Injuries are just one of several factors Loring will consider when deciding the team’s singles order and doubles combinations.“We look at how we did last semester and we’ll look at how we’re doing this semester and we’ll get an injury report from the trainer at the end of the week,” he said. “We may not set the lineup until after we practice there on Friday and see the speed of the courts and whose game is suited for the courts.”The Hoosiers are still in the early stages of the spring season, however Loring said he thinks IU will soon be back in a rhythm of playing good tennis. “I feel like we’re maybe not quite where we were in November but we’ve really only had three days of practice and the tournament so I think by the end of the week we’ll be fine,” he said.
(01/17/13 8:10pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After the posting a 27-5 team record in last weekend’s adidas IU Winter Invitational, the IU women’s tennis team will play its first dual matches of the season on Saturday. No. 49 IU will travel to Cincinnati to face the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks at 11 a.m. followed by a match against the Cincinnati Bearcats at 4 p.m. IU has faced at least one of the two Ohio schools every year since the 2005-06 season. During that stretch, the Hoosiers were 6-0 against Miami and 3-0 against Cincinnati. IU dominated those matchups, winning all seven dual match points on four occasions and winning six points in two other instances. Neither Miami nor Cincinnati has any nationally ranked singles or doubles players. IU has the No. 31 doubles combination of senior Leslie Hureau and junior Sophie Garre.The Hoosiers are favored to win both matches, and IU Coach Lin Loring said he expects tougher competition against Miami. “Miami is traditionally one of the best MAC schools and as you know from football, volleyball, basketball, the best MAC schools can beat Big Ten schools,” he said. “Miami and Western Michigan are always one and two in the MAC and that will be a good match to start the season with.”Loring is familiar with Cincinnati Coach Angela Wilson, who played tennis at IU from 1983 to 1987 and was a member of two Big Ten Championship teams. He said she is doing a “good job of building” Cincinnati’s women’s tennis program, but the Bearcats are still “a level below,” which is why IU is playing them after Miami.“Early in the season is always a tough time to play somebody because you don’t know quite what to expect, especially because they have three new players,” Loring said. “It’s kind of the unknown, which will be the biggest challenge in that match for us.”Dual matches are organized into six singles matches and three doubles matches. Each win in a singles match counts as one point and the school that wins the majority of the doubles matches wins the doubles point. With seven points in each dual match, the team that wins the majority of the total points wins the match.“It’s still a tennis match but it’s more of a team thing so you have to take care of your court and win your match,” Hureau said. “You also want to support the other girls because at the end of the day we have to win as a team.”IU is looking to return to full strength after two players were injured over the weekend. Hureau hurt her right wrist in a match and sophomore Shannon Murdy was hit by a ball at the net.Injuries are just one of several factors IU Coach Loring will consider when deciding the team’s singles order and doubles combinations.“We look at how we did last semester and we’ll look at how we’re doing this semester and we’ll get an injury report from the trainer at the end of the week,” he said. “We may not set the lineup until after we practice there on Friday and see the speed of the courts and whose game is suited for the courts.”The Hoosiers are still in the early stages of the spring season but IU Coach Loring said he thinks IU will soon be back in a rhythm of playing good tennis. “I feel like we’re maybe not quite where we were in November but we’ve really only had three days of practice and the tournament so I think by the end of the week we’ll be fine,” he said.
(01/14/13 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The adidas IU Winter Invitational was the IU women’s tennis team’s first competition in two months and the team’s final chance to fine-tune its game before heading into dual matches.The No. 49 Hoosiers hosted No. 52 Missouri, Marquette and Bowling Green over the weekend in a tournament that was organized into seven singles flights and one doubles flight.“It was really important to get a lot of matches in because the last time we played was the first week of November, so it was important to play before we start dual matches,” IU Coach Lin Loring said. On Friday, Indiana was 7-1 in singles matches and picked up two wins in doubles matches. Senior Leslie Hureau defeated Bowling Green’s No. 87 Emily Reuland 6-4, 6-2 in the top flight. Sophomore Alecia Kauss, junior Sophie Garre, sophomore Katie Klyczek and junior Gabrielle Rubenstein also won their matches in straight sets. Sophomore Carolyn Chupa and senior Jithmie Jayawickrema won their matches in tie-breakers against Bowling Green’s Katie Brozovich and Marquette’s Vanessa Foltiner, respectively.In doubles play, Jayawickrema and Rubenstein teamed up to beat Bowling Green’s Reuland/Nikki Chiricosta 8-4. Kauss and sophomore Shannon Murdy battled with the Bowling Green pairing of Maddy Eccleston/Katie Grubb before winning a tie-breaker 9-8 (5).The team continued its success on Saturday by going 6-1 in singles. In doubles, the Hoosiers were 6-2, and three different Indiana pairings won two matches. Hureau and Garre defeated Marquette’s Aleeza Kanner/Ana Pimienta and Bowling Green’s Reuland/Eccleston by 8-3 margins. Chupa and Rubenstein topped Missouri’s Rachel Stuhlman/Maria Christensen 8-6 and Cierra Gaytan-Leach/Elisha Gabb, the No. 26 doubles team in the country, 8-3. Kauss and Kylczek bested Gaytan-Leach/Gabb 9-7 and Marquette’s Rocio Diaz/Erin Gebes 8-6. Indiana finished the tournament with a perfect doubles record of 6-0 on Sunday. The Kauss/Garre, Chupa/Klyczek and Rubenstein/Jayawickrema duos each won two matches. Kauss and Garre capped off Indiana’s undefeated day with a win against Gaytan-Leach and Gabb. The pair of Hoosiers took a 6-3 lead before their opponents stormed back to tie the match. With their teammates cheering them on from an adjacent court, Kauss and Garre won the tie-breaker 9-8 (6).Not only did the Hoosiers win most of their doubles matches but they did so with many different doubles pairings. In fact, Loring used eight different doubles combinations during the weekend.“What was good for us is we had a couple kids out at different times with injuries, and we won a lot of the doubles,” Loring said. “I was pleased that everyone was able to adjust and play with new partners and still play some good doubles.” Overall, Indiana was 13-2 in its singles matches and 14-3 in doubles play.While IU had success in the weekend’s tournament, Loring said the women’s tennis team still has room for improvement as it heads into dual matches.“We have to lob better in doubles, we have to serve better in doubles, and those are the two big things that we need to do better in doubles,” Loring said. “I think our singles is coming along pretty well.”The Hoosiers will face Miami (Ohio) and Cincinnati Jan. 19, when the team travels to Cincinnati for its first dual matches of the season.
(01/11/13 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>By Andy Wittryawittry@indiana.eduAfter a two-month respite from competition, the IU women’s tennis team will be back in action this weekend during the adidas IU Winter Invitational at the IU Tennis Center.Due to NCAA regulations limiting the amount of time coaches can spend with their players, the women carried on their training, both collectively and individually, during winter break without the coaching staff. “The coaches couldn’t be with us, but we played on our own, and we played here [at the IU Tennis Center] before we went back home, where we practiced by ourselves,” senior Leslie Hureau said. “This week is going to be important to get back and play with the girls.”The tournament is the final tune-up, as the Hoosiers head into the spring season and dual matches that come with it. “In the fall, we only had three tournaments, and they weren’t dual matches,” Hureau said. “The spring is much more intense with the Big Ten matches and big matches against teams such as Tennessee. The big season is in the spring.”No. 49-ranked IU will face Bowling Green, Marquette and No. 52 Missouri in the three-day tournament.There will be two nationally ranked singles players in the field. Missouri has No. 71 Cierra Gaytan-Leach, and Bowling Green junior Emily Reuland is No. 87 in the country.IU’s pair of players from France, Hureau and junior Sophie Garre, is ranked No. 31 in doubles. Missouri’s Cierra Gaytan-Leach and Elisha Gabb make up the No. 26 doubles pairing in Division I women’s tennis.Doubles matches will be the focus for the Hoosiers in the invitational. Hureau said that IU has room for improvement in that area. “It’s something that we haven’t been really good at in the past couple seasons,” she said. “I think that, this year, it’s going to be really important to be better in doubles. This tournament is going to be a good way to play a lot of doubles.”IU Coach Lin Loring said he shares Hureau’s goal for IU to be a good team in terms of doubles.“I want us to play good doubles,” he said. “This weekend we’re set for two singles and five doubles, so there’s a big emphasis on doubles. The goal is to see a continuation of the good, smart tennis that we were playing at the end of the semester.”Loring said he trusts the hours his players have spent practicing during the past several months instead of implementing major changes in the team’s training with spring season quickly approaching. “We don’t do a lot of individual changes at this point in the season,” he said. “You have to go with what you have, and we just work more on strategy. This semester we worked a little more on strategy and less on mechanics.” While the Hoosiers want to play well this weekend, Loring looks at the adidas IU Winter Invitational in the context of the entire season. He said it is important for the team to mentally prepare for their dual matches that are in the following weekends. Hopefully, they will finish in the Big Ten Tournament and play in the NCAA Championships, Loring said.