Hoosiers stay undefeated in Big Ten at 4-0

On a roll like a perfectly-aligned row of dominoes, the No. 25 IU women’s tennis team won its fourth consecutive Big Ten match on Saturday, defeating unranked Michigan State 6-1.\nThe Hoosiers won all three of their doubles games before winning five of their singles matches. \nDespite the 6-1 score, the Hoosiers did not win easily. Freshman Myriam Sopel won a difficult 7-5, 6-3 match and sophomore Lindsey Stuckey split sets before winning the third-set tiebreaker. Freshman Charlotte Martin also struggled before winning 7-5, 7-5.\nMichigan State came into Saturday’s match having defeated No. 35 Washington 6-1 Wednesday. \nIU coach Lin Loring said one of the keys to IU’s victory was the focus the team demonstrated early in the match.\n“We knew Michigan State, after beating Washington, must not only be playing well but also have a lot of confidence,” Loring said. “We kind of popped their bubble a little bit because they did come in with a lot of confidence. I’m sure they were thinking they could beat us or have a really good shot at beating us.”\nMartin said the players are happy with their perfect conference record and are especially proud of their victory over the Spartans. \n“We’re really pleased with the (Michigan State) win,” Martin said. “It could have been difficult, but we did a good job and we won pretty convincingly. To be 4-0 in the Big Ten is really good at this stage, and we’re pleased with that.”\nDespite IU’s Big Ten win, its overall winning streak ended at seven as it lost 6-1 to No. 19 Notre Dame in a non-conference match Sunday.\nUnlike the Spartans, the Fighting Irish posed a difficult challenge for the Hoosiers, with three ranked players and two ranked doubles combinations.\nWith its strong pairs, Notre Dame won the doubles point easily. The No. 1 duo of Brook Buck and Kelcy Tefft defeated senior Brianna Williams and freshman Katya Zapadalova 8-4, while Notre Dame’s No. 50 pair of Cosmina Ciobanu and Colleen Rielley beat junior Alba Berdala and Stuckey 8-6. Junior Sigrid Fischer and Sopel defeated Spartans Kali Krisik and Katie Potts 8-7 for the Hoosiers’ only doubles victory.\nLosing the doubles point set the tone for the rest of the match. Berdala, Fischer and Williams all lost to Notre Dame’s ranked players. Berdala lost 6-3, 6-0 to Tefft, Fischer lost 6-1, 6-1 to Ciobanu, and Williams lost 6-3, 6-4 to Krisik. Martin lost 6-1, 6-1 to Buck.\nOnly Stuckey survived the avalanche, defeating Rielley 6-4, 6-2. Sopel split sets before retiring in the third set against Potts as the match was already decided. Still dealing with some nagging injuries, Zapdalova did not compete in the singles against Notre Dame. \nStuckey said the team is still feeling confident about competing in the Big Ten, despite losing to Notre Dame.\n“We stress the most importance on the Big Ten matches,” Stuckey said. “We always like playing teams such as Notre Dame because it gives us some good experience, but our primary focus is to make sure that we’re ahead in the Big Ten, that we’re at a good standing.”\nThe Hoosiers will take on unranked-Wisconsin at 11 a.m. Saturday on the road before heading to Evanston, Ill., Sunday to compete against No. 1 Northwestern.