IU starts out strong in Big Ten play

The No. 57 Hoosiers picked up two key wins on the road this weekend, improving their overall record to 13-4 (2-1). These wins were also the first conference victories of the season for the team.

The action commenced Friday when the Hoosiers traveled to State College, Pa., beating No. 46 Penn State 6-1 in IU’s first outdoor match of the season.

Wasting no time, the Hoosiers jumped early on the Nittany Lions, sweeping all three of the doubles matches to take the first point of the day.

Sophomore Kayla Fujimoto and senior Evgeniya Vertesheva got things started by rolling to an 8-3 victory against their opponent.

Securing the doubles point, freshman Shannon Murdy and junior Leslie Hureau took their match 8-4. Freshman Katie Klyczek and sophomore Sophie Garre continued the doubles dominance with a 8-6 win in the No. 1 slot.

“We swept the doubles, something we haven’t done against a good team this season,” IU Coach Lin Loring said.

The Hoosiers’ good play continued in singles, losing only one of the six matches.
The three freshmen all stepped up and took out their opponents in straight sets.

Freshmen Carolyn Chupa and Alecia Kauss started things off by beating their opponents 6-3, 6-3 and 6-3, 6-2, respectively. Fellow rookie Klyczek sealed up the Hoosiers first Big Ten win of the season by defeating her opponent 6-2, 7-5.

After dropping the first set, Fujimoto came storming back to take the next two sets for the cream and crimson victory 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. The lone loss of the day came when Vertesheva fell short in the decisive third set.

In a battle against No. 55 Petra Januskova, Hureau squeaked out the victory in the tiebreaker 7-6, 4-6, 1-0 (11-9).

“This was a good conference road win for us,” Loring said. “They are ranked ahead of us, and we need road wins against ranked teams if we are going to get into the NCAA Tournament.”

The Hoosiers continued their weekend play Sunday by beating No. 66 Ohio State 4-3. The match originally started outdoors but was moved to the indoor arena during singles play because of rain.

Starting off the doubles action, Murdy and Hureau vanquished their opponent, giving up one game in the 8-1 victory.

In the one slot, Klyczek and Garre secured the doubles point for the team with an 8-3 win. The two slot saw Fujimoto and Vertesheva fall in a tight match, 8-6.

The Buckeyes took the first singles match, when Klyczek won only two games in her 6-0, 6-2 defeat.

Fujimoto responded with a straight set victory of her own, earning the Hoosiers second point of the day in a 6-3, 6-2 triumph.

Ohio State took the next match by beating Kauss in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. IU responded yet again when Hureau followed up by winning 6-3, 6-3 in the one slot.

After winning a closely contested first set 7-6, Vertesheva rolled in the second set 6-2 to secure the win for her and the team.

Chupa fell in the final match of the weekend in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

With two solid wins, the Hoosiers improve their record against ranked competition to 3-4. IU will look to extend its winning streak against Michigan and Michigan State next weekend.