IU overpowers Marquette, Morehead State

Like Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde, the Hoosiers transformed into monsters on Sunday as they defeated both Marquette and Morehead State 7-0. \nThe No. 26 women’s tennis team established its dominance early on, with the two wins improving the Hoosiers’ record to 6-1. However, its match with Marquette did come with a struggle. \nFreshman Katya Zapadalova, sophomore Lindsey Stuckey and senior captain Brianna Williams each had tough sets during the match with the Marquette Golden Eagles but prevailed in the end. Zapadalova beat Marquette’s Erin Watkins 7-5, 6-0. Stuckey’s match went into the third set before she defeated Christina Ruiz 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 1-0 (10-7). Williams also struggled at first before beating Robin Metzler 7-6 (7-3), 6-1. \nJunior Alba Berdala later stumbled in the second set of her match against Morehead State’s Alexandra Rydberg before coming back to win 6-2, 7-5.\nBoth Marquette and Morehead State left Bloomington with losing records, 1-6 and 2-6, respectively.\nIU coach Lin Loring and Williams agreed that the matches, while not as difficult as past tournaments, gave the team practice for more difficult opponents coming up in the season. \n“This is a young team, the more matches the better, especially in doubles,” Loring said. “Almost everybody had a tough set somewhere. That’ll help us get ready for next weekend.”\nWilliams said Marquette took the Hoosiers by surprise, making IU work harder early on.\n“I always want to go into every match with the same mentality because you never know what you’re going to expect,” Williams said. “We weren’t expecting them to be that good so we had a lot of close matches and first sets.”\nThe Hoosiers used the two matches as opportunities to improve their game and experiment with different techniques. Loring gave the team goals to work on during the game that it can use during more challenging matches. \n“When we play weaker teams or teams we’re supposed to (beat), we always try to work on something that’s going to help against a good team,” Berdala said. “We knew we were supposed to win. It was more of a challenge to prove ourselves. We definitely have been keeping up with good teams, and today everybody did such a good job. I feel like that gave us confidence for next weekend.”\nIU junior Sigrid Fischer agreed this weekend’s wins allowed the team to boost its confidence in its game. Because of the wins, the team became more sure of its doubles abilities. \n“Two more matches make us a lot more comfortable in doubles,” Fischer said. “You get to know your partner in doubles a lot better. It makes us more confident.”\nThe Hoosiers will next take on No. 21 Tennessee at 10 a.m. Sunday and Ball State at 3 p.m. Both matches will take place at the IU Tennis Center.