Women to face 2 ranked opponents

IU's women's tennis team might have a chance to experience the best of both worlds this weekend.\nThe No. 36 Hoosiers will play host to No. 2 Northwestern at 4 p.m. Friday and No. 35 Wisconsin at 10 a.m. Sunday at the IU Varsity Tennis Courts, weather permitting.\nBut two different days will likely serve-up two different types of matches.\n"I think (Wisconsin) should be a close match," said IU coach Lin Loring. "Hopefully we'll get some confidence, win or lose (from Northwestern). It should give us a good chance to play one of the top teams in the country -- I know we can pull out at least a couple matches in there."\nNorthwestern (13-2, 3-0 Big Ten) has been on a streak as of late winning 10 of their last 11. The one loss was to then-No. 24 University of California, which Loring attributed to the Wildcats likely being unprepared to play outside in California's weather.\nNorthwestern currently has three players inside the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's top 100 -- Audra Cohen leading the pack at No. 3 with Cristelle Grier and Alexis Prousis trailing at No. 13 and No. 64, respectively. Prousis also joins with Kristi Roemer for the Wildcats' No. 29-ranked doubles tandem.\nThe only Hoosier familiar with the Wildcats' nationally ranked crowd is senior Dora Vastag, who has hung around the 100 mark all spring.\nRegardless of the match's outcome, Loring said that he knows his team will at least get a chance to warm-up for Wisconsin, and junior Sarah Batty agrees with him.\n"You've got nothing to lose against a team like (Northwestern)," Batty said. "The pressure isn't on you -- it's on the other team."\nSunday will square IU (9-7, 3-0) off against Wisconsin (9-4, 2-1) for a match that could potentially be the fourth 4-3 victory this spring, Batty said.\nThe Badgers are coming off of Tuesday's 4-3 win over No. 28 Notre Dame, and Loring said he thinks they are likely to show up in Bloomington confident.\nThey have two players in the top 100. No. 100 Caitlin Burke and the second player, at least one of the Hoosiers might be a little bit acquainted with -- No. 93 Katie McGaffigan.\n"I guess I'm kind of used to (playing my sisters) by now," said sophomore Laura McGaffigan. "I remember in my very first tournament ever, I played her, and she beat me."\nLaura McGaffigan, whose parents both played collegiate tennis at Catholic University in Washington, also had another older sister who played for Illinois, but graduated in December.\nSunday won't bring any sort of a Serena and Venus Williams-type showdown, as the two won't be playing against each other. However, Laura McGaffigan does remember that first tournament game. It was sometime before she was in high school, and she jokingly says, her sister beat her "really bad."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Andy Romey at aromey@indiana.edu.