Hoosiers win first Big Ten matches against Wisconsin, Minnesota

The IU women’s tennis team picked up its first two conference wins of the season this weekend, defeating Wisconsin 4-3 Saturday and Minnesota 6-1 Sunday at the IU Tennis Complex.

The Hoosiers (12-8, 2-5 Big Ten) lost the doubles point against the Badgers, but won the first four matches during singles play to clinch the victory.

For an IU team that has been on the losing end of several close matches, senior Charlotte Martin said it felt good to finally come out on top.

“It just gave us a lot of confidence, I think. We’ve had a few disappointing results and it was good that we came out and dominated the singles (Saturday) and won really fast,” said Martin, who clinched the win for IU with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles.

Sophomore Leslie Hureau, junior Evgeniya Vertesheva and freshman Kayla Fujimoto also picked up straight-set singles wins against the Badgers.

IU coach Lin Loring said the Hoosiers were heavily favored against an injury-laden Minnesota team, but Wisconsin posed a greater threat.

“That was probably the best we’ve played team-wise—definitely in the conference, I don’t know about the whole year but definitely in the conference,” Loring said. “We were competitive at every position. They’re a good team and it’s a match we could have easily lost so I’m really, really happy with the Wisconsin win.”