Wildcats present even match for IU

Like Goldilocks and the three bears, the women’s tennis team is finally playing against an opponent just its size.\nAfter last Sunday’s hard-fought loss to Duke and an easy victory against Butler, No. 24 IU will compete against No. 26 Kentucky this Saturday. \nIU coach Lin Loring said he’s expecting a good match this weekend. Last year the then-No. 37 ranked Hoosiers beat the then-No. 21 Wildcats 5-2 in an upset.\n“We know that this is going to be a really close match,” Loring said. “We know that they’re playing well, and I’m sure that they’re here for some revenge.”\nFreshman Katya Zapadalova said despite last weekend’s loss to Duke, the team walked away with the confidence that they can compete well against strong teams.\n“Last weekend we played against a very good team and a weak team, so now we know the level of the higher teams,” Zapadalova said. “We had very good matches. We now know how to compete and what to expect.”\nSophomore Lindsey Stuckey said she valued the experience gained from playing Duke. \n“I think just with doubles we’ve learned how to play against great teams,” Stuckey said. “Playing with Duke gave us a lot of experience because their doubles are always really strong. I think it’ll give us the opportunity to know what to expect against Kentucky because their doubles and singles are always really strong.”\nSenior captain Brianna Williams said this weekend’s match will give IU more practice at playing doubles.\n“Our strength is that we have a really solid singles lineup this year,” Williams said. “Our doubles is a little weaker, but I think as the season goes on and (we) keep playing and having a lot of matches, we’ll definitely get a lot stronger and have the potential to be a really strong doubles team.” \nWilliams and Stuckey said playing only one match on Saturday instead of two will help the Hoosiers focus. But Loring downplayed the effect.\n“Those weekends (with two matches) we always played the better team first,” Loring said. “It’ll be good for the girls to get more time off. It won’t affect the first match because there would be nothing different as far as playing a better team first.”\nThe Hoosiers currently have a 3-1 record, with wins over No. 66 Western Michigan, and unranked Butler and Miami (Ohio). \nKentucky is perfect at 4-0, including wins over No. 30 Michigan and No. 51 Marshall. \nThe match starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at the IU Tennis Center.