Hoosiers have 'nothing to lose' at invite

The women's tennis team is preparing for battle this weekend at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend. The Hoosiers will join Notre Dame, Texas A&M and Arizona in matches that only count towards individual records, not team records.\n"The big thing we're looking forward to this weekend is getting to play against good nationally ranked teams, that we normally don't get to play second semester," coach Lin Loring said. "It's got to be some of our best competition of the year."\nThe Hoosiers said they are looking to have fun this weekend.\n"We have nothing to lose against these teams," sophomore Linda Tran said. "I think Notre Dame might be seeking revenge against (junior) Karie (Schlukebir) and I, because we've never lost to them in doubles."\n"There's less pressure for us," Schlukebir said. "They're all ranked above us."\nSenior Amanda Field said she wants to show the higher ranked teams that the Hoosiers are strong this year.\n"We're going to be playing some tough teams," she said. "I'd like to play well, and hopefully make a mark on some of those teams. We're playing all non-conference games, which I think is fun."\nOnce again, the Hoosiers roster will be shortened because of injuries. Junior Jessica Levin and freshman Inga Radel will not compete, while Tran is being held out of singles competition because of knee problems.\n"Most of the injuries right now are the tendinitis type of overuse injuries," Loring said. "It's just gonna be a matter of rest and time off for them to get better."\nLoring says this invitational should be a good experience for his team.\n"It's a very friendly type of format," he said. "The fact that these don't count towards our team records is going to make it a little bit less intense. The goal for all of the coaches is to get the players a bunch of matches"