Big Ten home court advantage for IU

The women's tennis team is hoping homecourt advantage at the Big Ten championships will preclude history from repeating itself. The Hoosiers (5-5) take on Penn State (1-9) in the first round of the conference championship today. In last year's quarterfinal round of the tournament, the Hoosiers fell to the Nittany Lions, 4-2. \nBut the team has had success with the Nittany Lions so far during the regular season. In an April 15 matchup between IU and Penn State, the Hoosiers won in convincing fashion, 5-2. In that tournament, freshman Inga Radel, sophomores Linda Tran and Martina Grimm and junior Karie Schlukebir each won singles matches and Schlukebir and Tran and senior Amanda Field and Grimm each added doubles wins. \nThe winner of the IU-Penn State match will face Wisconsin on Friday. The tournament continues with semifinals on Saturday and the championship match Sunday. \nEntering Big Ten play, Radel has won 14 straight matches and Schlukebir and Tran have won 11 straight doubles matches. Radel went 28-3 on the year and went undefeated in the Big Ten. But few other Hoosiers enter the contest with positive singles streaks. Field, Grimm, Schlukebir and Tran all are hoping to break out of losing streaks. \nHead coach Lin Loring, who is the sport's all-time winningest college coach, goes into the tournament with a history of success in the Big Ten. Loring has a 276-43 record in the conference, including a 12-2 mark against Penn State.\nThe Hoosiers have won 14 Big Ten championships, including a streak of nine straight from 1987-1995. \nPurdue and Michigan State kick off the tournament at 9 a.m. today, followed by IU and Penn State at 10:30 a.m. and Michigan and Minnesota at 12:30 p.m. The event will be held at the Varsity Tennis Courts.