Injured team leaves town

The IU women's tennis team travels out of state to take on Illinois State and conference-rival Iowa this weekend. This is the Hoosiers' first venture out of state this spring. IU heads to ISU Friday before competing against Iowa Sunday morning.\n"This will be good practice for us before we begin the Big 10 season on Sunday," sophomore Linda Tran said. \nIU and the Illinois State Redbirds face each other for only the second time in history. The last head-to-head match was played in the spring of 1979. The Hoosiers came away with a victory by a score of 9-0. \nLike IU, Illinois State has been plagued with injuries. The Redbirds' record for the season is 2-4, but that underscores the rough start that this young team has had. Because of the numerous injuries, ISU has competed several young players.\nBut the Hoosiers are gearing up for a tough match, despite ISU's youth.\nOne of these reasons is because IU is battling health issues itself. Those injuries are slowly healing for the Hoosiers.\n"We will not be 100 percent for this weekend, but we will be healthier than we have been in the past three weeks," Coach Lin Loring said. \nThe Iowa Hawkeyes and IU meet for the 26th time Sunday. The Hoosiers hold a 24-2 all-time series record over the Hawkeyes. \nWith victories over Marquette and Virginia Tech, Iowa opened its season with a 2-5 record. \nAt the last match against the Hawkeyes, junior Karie Schlukebir and Tran lost at No. 1 doubles. Walking in with a record of 20-6 and a ranking of No. 43 in the country, the tandem seeks to avenge its loss this weekend. Last spring, the team defeated Iowa 4-3. \nIn last weekend's match against the Indiana State Sycamores, the Hoosiers worked on individual goals to prepare them for this weekend's conference match. \n"We're going to have to keep improving for the weekend," Loring said. "Iowa is solid."\nThe Hoosiers are ranked 26th in the nation, according to the latest Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis NCAA Division I Women's team rankings, which were released Wednesday. The rankings give IU an advantage over No. 50 Iowa, which is ranked sixth-highest in the Big 10. The only Big 10 team ranked higher than the Hoosiers is No. 14 Northwestern. \nThis spring the Hoosiers suffered only one loss, to the Tennessee Volunteers, and they hold an overall record of 9-1.\n"I am looking forward to the Big 10," freshman Inga Radel said. "It is a great experience, and I think we are ready to compete"