Team plays in last home matches

In their last home matches, the No. 29 Hoosiers will take on No. 58 Illinois and unranked Purdue this weekend as they look to improve their Big Ten record.\nDepending on the weekend weather, these two matches could be IU’s first home matches played outside. Sophomore Lindsey Stuckey said the team has been practicing outside all week and is ready to play either outside or inside.\n“I think each time we play outside we get more and more comfortable,” Stuckey said. “I think at this point we don’t really have a preference whether we’d like to play inside or outside.”\nSenior Brianna Williams said competing outside against Wisconsin last weekend has prepared the Hoosiers for any difficult weather conditions.\n“Wisconsin was a very tough match,” Williams said. “There was a lot of wind, a lot of tough circumstances. I think that really helped us more for outdoor matches. It really gave us more confidence that we were able to perform outdoors.”\nIf the Hoosiers defeat the Fighting Illini and the Boilermakers, they will improve to an 8-1 record before heading on the road to play unranked-Penn State and No. 26 Michigan. \n“It’s kind of nice to play the Big Ten matches on a home court, especially if it’s nice outside,” Stuckey said. “We’ve been gone a while, and it’s always good to have home – court advantage, especially against the Big Ten teams.”\nEven though IU is ranked ahead of both teams, senior captain Brianna Williams said the Hoosiers are not taking this weekend’s matches for granted.\n“I think they’ll be really important,” Williams said. “We know we’re ranked ahead of them, but they’re still really important because we don’t want any losses to get into the NCAAs.”\nIU coach Lin Loring said beating Illinois and Purdue are essential to the Hoosiers’ chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament.\n“These two matches we really need to win because we want to be seeded in the top of the tournament,” Loring said. “These are teams we’re ranked in front of, and we had really good matches with these teams last year. We’re expecting good matches this weekend.”\nLoring said the team is galvanized for this weekend’s matches, especially after competing on the road last week.\n“We’re excited to be at home,” Loring said. “Sunday’s our senior day so we want to do really well for Brianna. We have a lot of motivation on Sunday.”\nThe Hoosiers will take on Illinois at 11 a.m. Saturday and Purdue at 11 a.m. Sunday. Both matches will take place at the IU Tennis Center.