Even though the No. 54 Indiana women's tennis team lost to No. 25 Tennessee 4-3, IU Coach Lin Loring said that it was good for the Hoosiers to be able to start the match by winning the doubles point. He said that it showed improvement from past IU teams.
"It was the first time in a few years that we won the doubles point against a top 25 team," he said. "Last year we split singles with a fifteenth ranked team in Michigan and a nineteenth ranked team in Illinois but we lost the doubles point and that decided the match."
However, soon after taking an early lead in the dual match, Indiana suffered a tough loss when senior Leslie Hureau pulled her quad in the No. 1 singles match.
"There was no way that she was going to be out there for three sets so we decided it was better to default that match at that point," Loring said. "To win the point, she would have had to stay out there another two hours and that would mean that we would lose her for tomorrow."
Indiana and Tennessee were tied at three with only the No. 4 singles match remaining.
"Sophie [Garre] was up 4-3 in the third, then 4-4 with an ad to go up 5-4 so we were there," IU Coach Loring said. "We were just a couple points from the match and we know that we can play with these teams."
He said that they competed very hard, especially since it was IU's first road match against a top 25 team.
"We didn't know quite what to expect because we hadn't played a team at that level, especially on the road," he said. "I thought we responded well and we were close enough to win. That's why those losses are kind of painful because we were in the match."
IU Coach Loring said that Tennessee was really tough up and down the lineup, which is where he said the Vols won the match.
"It was just a good college tennis match," he said. "It came down to the fourth singles match and it was 4-4 in the third [set]. It doesn't really get much closer than that."
He said that this afternoon the Hoosiers had an easy practice at the University of Kentucky to adjust to the courts and to be prepared for their match against the Wildcats tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.
