Nationals hinge on teams' upcoming match

Both the women's and men's tennis teams can be seen in action this weekend at the ITA Midwest Regionals starting today through next Tuesday in Madison, Wisc.\nThe tournament is important to both team's post-season play because play this weekend will determine both team's eligibility to compete in the National Championships. \nLike the Clemson Invitational the men competed in, there are no seeded teams in the tournament, higher ranked players can still play lesser ranked players. Without seeding, teams and players could face-off against one another. \nIn the singles bracket, 64 players will begin the tournament in the qualifying draw, with only eight players advancing to the main draw, where they will join and compete against the top 56 players in the Midwest. The double's bracket consists of a 64 team main draw, and the champion will compete in the National Championships.\nOn the men's side, men's team members sophomore Jakub Praibis and freshman Viktor Libal will both play singles in the main draw, while sophomore Ryan Recht and sophomore Tom Bagnato will be competing in the qualifying draw. The doubles lineup will pair freshman John Stone with Recht, Bagnato with sophomore Jullien Vulliez, and Libal and Praibis together.\n"The Clemson Invitational indicated where we're at and what we needed to improve on," Recht said, adding the results were "fairly well." To turn up their competitive edge, the team focused on areas needing improvement in practice.\nThe Hoosiers will have to compete without senior Zach Held due to a recent injury to his rotator cuff. Held was to compete in the qualifying singles draw and in doubles with Recht. Recht said he wasn't nervous about the subtraction of Held because of the experience team the gained at the Clemson Invitational. Recht's new partner, Stone, is confident he can step up.\n"I'm eager and excited to show what I got," Stone said. \nCompeting for the women this week in singles play are senior Karie Schlukebir, junior Linda Tran and freshman Sarah Batty. \nThe tournament's non-seed structure could possibly pair teammates against each other. Batty said it will be hard to face one of her teammates during the competition. \n"It will be difficult to play one of them," Batty said. "However, it's just like match practice anyways."\nCompeting in the qualifying draw will be junior Martina Grimm, sophomore Dominika Walterova and freshman Sophie Rychlik. \nThe road to Nationals in Dallas will not be as easy for Grimm, Walterova and Rychlik. Being apart of the singles qualifying draw, they have to win three singles matches just to get to the 56-player main draw. \nAs an underdog, Walterova said it's frustrating to have to dig from such a deep hole in the bracket.\n"It is a little bit (frustrating), but we need to play a lot of matches," Walterova said. "Every match is good for you."\nThe Hoosiers have not been as successful this season as they would like. The players said they were confident this week at practice and are looking forward to the tournament. \n"I'm pretty confident," Batty said. "I've been playing well most of the season."\nIn the doubles bracket, there is no qualifying draw; there is only a 64-player main draw that will crown the champion and send the winners to nationals.\nAs they've done all year, Schlukebir and Tran will highlight the Hoosiers at the doubles position. The duo, who were ranked as high as No. 13 in the nation according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll, are among the favorites to win the draw and advance to Nationals. Seeding for the doubles bracket has yet to be organized.\nCoach Lin Loring has high expectations for Schlukebir and Tran as well.\n"I think they'll do really well," Loring said. "The courts are really fast so there will be some upsets, but they'll do fine"