IU faces 2nd straight week of ranked opposition

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings this week welcomed the cream and crimson for the first time this season.

The Hoosiers, ranked No. 74 in the nation, look to create a winning streak against ranked opposition after downing then-No. 71 DePaul University this past Sunday.

This weekend, the 8-2 Hoosiers will play Notre Dame and Kentucky.

The Hoosiers will be tested as they face two BCS conference programs for the second straight week.

The action begins at 3 p.m. Friday, as the team travels to South Bend to take on the No. 23 Fighting Irish. The Irish will feature nationally ranked players No. 39 Shannon Mathews and No. 124 Jennifer Kellner.

Notre Dame also boasts the formidable tandem of Mathews and Kristy Frilling, ranked No. 3 in the nation.

The freshmen duo of Carolyn Chupa and Katie Klyczek, who have played No. 1 doubles lately, will likely face this pair of Irish women.

This will not be a new experience for the IU tandem, as it went against the No. 2 pairing from Tennessee 3-1 before surrendering seven of the next eight games to fall 8-4.

Frilling was awarded the Big East Player of the Week award, meaning the Hoosiers will have played the three most recent Big East players of the week after facing Jasmin King and Rebeca Mitrea of DePaul last week.

The Irish’s record stands at 6-3 this season. IU and Notre Dame have fought some of the same opponents this season. Both Notre Dame and IU have beaten the University of Cincinnati this season by scores of 7-0 and 6-1, respectively.

Also, both teams have lost to No. 10 Tennessee  by scores of 6-1 and 5-2, respectively.

To beat the Irish, IU will lean on sophomore Kayla Fujimoto, who is 3-0 in singles matches, when the Hoosiers play nationally ranked opponents.

“Every match, I go in with the same mentality and focus on my game, not the opponent,” Fujimoto said.

The team heads back to Bloomington to face unranked Kentucky at 11 a.m. Sunday at the IU Tennis Center.

The team from Lexington boasts the same record as IU, 8-2. Kentucky’s two losses came at the hands of Purdue 6-1 earlier in the season and Akron 4-3 this past Tuesday.

Kentucky and IU have both played Cincinnati, both beating the Bearcats handily. This is the Big Blue’s last non-conference game before it kicks off the Southeastern Conference potion of its schedule.

The Wildcats are still searching for their first road win of the season.

Kentucky is absent from the list of nationally ranked singles players, but it will bring the No. 36 doubles tandem of Jessica Stiles and Khristina Blajkevitch into Bloomington.

IU, while ranked nationally as a team for the first time this season, features no nationally ranked singles players or doubles duos.

Fujimoto said for the players to continue their winning ways, one of the keys is to block out what pundits say and focus on the team.

“We’ll succeed if we believe in ourselves and if we just put it together mentally,” Fujimoto said.

Conversely, if the team chemistry starts to slip, so will the record, she said.

“Any fault is team chemistry, and we won’t succeed,” Fujimoto said. “We have to stay united.”