No. 2 seeded team awaits rough road to finals

It almost doesn't matter what road the Hoosiers take through the Big Ten Tournament this weekend -- it will likely be a bumpy one.\nIU enters this year's tournament in East Lansing, Mich. as the No. 2 seed after going 8-2 in the Big Ten this season.\n"We won't have any easy matches no matter how the draw goes," said IU coach Lin Loring. "It's just a big round-robin -- pretty much the other half of the draw from Northwestern is up for grabs."\nAs the No. 2 seed, the No. 34 Hoosiers (14-10, 8-2 Big Ten) find themselves sitting atop the opposite side of the draw from regular season champions Northwestern (21-2, 10-0) -- the No. 4 team in the country.\nIU will get a bye the first round and will play the winner of No. 7 Michigan (11-10, 6-4) and No. 10 Michigan State (11-11, 1-9) in the second round.\nThe Hoosiers bested both teams this past weekend at home. They rolled over the Spartans 6-1, but narrowly beat the Wolverines 4-3 in a match that saw a trio of singles matches go into three sets.\nIU fought through the Wolverines by relying heavily on the rackets of IU's top doubles team -- senior Dominika Walterova and junior Sarah Batty.\nThe duo topped Michigan's No. 26-ranked tandem to secure the doubles point, earning attention from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The ITA ranked the two No. 53, IU's first doubles ranking this spring.\n"I learned a lot from all the experiences (me and now-graduated Linda Tran) had," Batty said. "I learned a lot of different things, and I've become more confident -- that's helped me out this year."\nBatty recently jumped to No. 100 from No. 120 after last weekend's no-loss performance.\nShould the Hoosiers advance to the semifinals, their likely opponent will be either No. 6 Purdue (9-12, 6-4) or No. 3 Iowa (13-8, 7-3). The Boilers are slated to go up against the Hawkeyes, provided last-seeded Minnesota (6-14, 1-9) doesn't upset them in the opening round.\nBut to only add to the uncertainty, Purdue upset Iowa at home this weekend 4-3.\nEarlier this season, the Hawkeyes blanked IU 7-0 in Iowa City, but the Hoosiers were victorious in West Lafayette, narrowly pulling out a 4-3 victory.\nThe Boilers were served-up largely in part by the racket of senior Dora Vastag, who defeated No. 74 Hala Sufi at the No. 1 spot.\nNo. 122 Vastag faced almost fifteen ranked opponents this year, and IU is undefeated whenever she wins.\nWalterova bid farewell to the IU Varsity Tennis Center last weekend. As the team's only leaving senior, she played her last match in Bloomington beating her opponent from Michigan State. She has been in the starting rotation for three of her four years and experienced her first national ranking in the tandem with Batty.\n"I feel pretty good about (likely having to play Michigan)," Walterova said. "I think we have a good chance against them."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Andy Romey at aromey@indiana.edu.