After road trip, IU returns home to face Minnesota

The No. 34 IU women’s tennis team (15-6, 4-3) will play Minnesota 11 a.m. Saturday and Wisconsin at 11 a.m. Sunday at the IU Tennis Center.

The Hoosiers will play at home for the next three dual matches after playing on the road the past two weekends.

IU Coach Lin Loring said the team is “nicked up” after traveling to Michigan State, Michigan, Iowa and Nebraska in the span of nine days.

“We gave them two days off when we got back to try to get a little bit healthy,” Loring said. “We’re just trying to get everybody’s legs back.”

Senior Leslie Hureau joked that she could use another four days off to recover.

Loring said this weekend’s matches should be different because IU will play on consecutive days.

“Last weekend we had a day off in between but we had to travel in between so it’s not like it was a rest,” he said. “Hopefully with a little break we might get to play some outdoor matches. Hopefully we’ll be pretty healthy.”

Minnesota (9-10, 3-4) is tied for sixth in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers started the season ranked No. 41 but started the spring with a 2-6 record.

Then they rattled off six consecutive wins but have since lost four of their past five dual matches.

Minnesota’s only conference wins are against teams tied for sixth place or worse. The Golden Gophers defeated Penn State (T-6th), Wisconsin (10th), Michigan State (12th). They lost to Michigan and Ohio State, who IU defeated 5-2. Minnesota’s best win of the season was a 4-3 upset against No. 33 Penn State on April 5.

Similarly to the Hoosiers, the Golden Gophers have only two seniors, which means underclassmen play a significant role on the team. Their typical singles order includes, two freshmen, two sophomores, one junior and one senior.

The Wisconsin Badgers (4-14, 2-5) are tenth in the conference and have not won consecutive dual matches this season. However, the Badgers are showing signs of improvement after their 1-10 start. Wisconsin has won three of its past seven matches, including a 5-2 victory against No. 52 Ohio State on April 5.

Last year, IU lost to Minnesota 7-0 and Wisconsin 5-2 on the road in the regular season. However, IU won the previous eight dual matches against the Golden Gophers and 10 of the team’s past 11 matches against the Badgers. IU’s home court advantage will favor the Hoosiers this weekend. IU is 8-2 at home while Minnesota and Wisconsin are a combined 0-12 on the road this season.

“Both teams are a little scary in that they can play good tennis on a given day,” Loring said. “We’re ranked ahead of both of them but they’ve both shown that they can play really good tennis. We just really have to be ready for both of them.”