Doubles duo falls short in Elite Eight

With the season on the line for both IU's men's and women's tennis teams, the women's doubles duo of sophomore Sarah Batty and senior Linda Tran fell in the Elite Eight while men's junior Jakub Praibis fell in the second round of the men's singles championship.\nAfter pulling off two upsets in the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament women's doubles championship, Batty and Tran's luck ran out as they ran into UCLA's doubles team of Daniela Bercek and Lauren Fisher and fell 1-6, 6-4 and 6-4. With the loss, Batty and Tran ended the season with a 14-4 record.\nBatty and Tran had to endure 90 degree temperatures in Athens, Ga. throughout the tournament and faced them again on May 27 at the Dan Magill Tennis Center when they matched Bercek and Fisher.\nThings started off well for the Hoosiers as they grabbed an early lead, winning the first set 6-1, putting them one set away from advancing to the Final Four.\nBatty and Tran used a mixture of drives and lobs to convincingly win the set, IU women's coach Lin Loring said.\n"We were making our shots and trying to neutralize some of their power," Loring said. "That (first set) may have been the best set they played all season."\nDuring the second set things began to change. Shots that were falling in the first set for Batty and Tran began not to fall and in return, the duo from UCLA captured the set 6-4 sending the match into a third and decisive set.\nThe third set went back and forth with Bercek and Fisher eventually capturing the set 6-4 winning the match for the eventual national champions.\nDespite facing tough conditions and their third three-setter of the tournament, no excuses were given about the match, senior Linda Tran said.\n"(The temperature) is not even an excuse," Tran said. "We were ready to go today."\nKnowing they were two steps away from playing for the national title makes the loss tough to swallow, Batty said.\n"We've had a lot of close matches," Batty said. "(The loss) sucks because you are so close to getting to the next round, its right there and then it's gone."\nIn getting to the Elite Eight and reaching All-American status, great things for the players and the team came from this experience, Loring said.\n"(Linda) is one of the best doubles players to have been at IU. I was really happy for Linda to go out an All-American," Loring said. "Hopefully it will make (Sarah) work extra hard and be in the individual tournament. Being involved with the caliber of play will be a motivational force and she can share the experiences and it can be a positive for everyone."\nEarlier in the day in Tulsa, Okla., Praibis faced off with the third ranked player in the nation, Jeremy Wurtzman of Ohio State, with a chance to advance to the round of 16.\nJust like the first time they faced each other, the match was close. Despite getting behind 4-1 in the first set, Praibis rallied to within 5-4, before losing the set 6-4.\nMuch like the first set, Praibis fell behind, this time 5-2, with the match and season on the line; Praibis won the next four games to pull ahead 6-5. Praibis couldn't hold off Wurtzman though and dropped the final two games, losing the set 7-5 and the match, ending his season with a 16-7 record.\nAt the end of the match Wurtzman was too much for Praibis, IU men's coach Ken Hydinger said in a statement. \n"Jakub (Praibis) had a rough tiebreaker in the second set," Hydinger said. "It was just not a good tiebreaker for Jakub as his concentration began to waver towards the end."\n-- Contact staff writer Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu .