After losing three consecutive 4-3 dual matches, the IU women's tennis team bounced back with a 4-3 win against No. 66 DePaul at the IU Tennis Center on Sunday. It was the first of two matches on the day for the Hoosiers, who face UNC-Wilmington on Sunday evening.
The Hoosiers took an early lead by winning the doubles point for their tenth time this season.
IU Coach Lin Loring said that winning the doubles point is very important in close matches because he said it is difficult to win four or more singles matches against any team.
"Pretty much all of the good teams these days are splitting singles three to three," he said. "Even though the doubles is just one point, in all of these matches it is turning out to be a really important point."
Indiana lost the doubles point in its previous two matches against Kentucky and Notre Dame, which put them in an early deficit in both dual matches. This time, it was Indiana who took the early lead and IU Coach Loring said that is was especially important for IU to win the doubles point because DePaul Coach Mark Ardizzone tried three new doubles combinations against the Hoosiers.
"We didn't know what to expect in the doubles because he's looking for answers in the doubles," Loring said.
The Blue Demons took the No. 2 doubles match when Patricia Fargas/Kelsey Lawson blanked sophomores Katie Klyczek and Carolyn Chupa 8-0.
"I think his best team may have been at two," IU Coach Loring said. "He didn't do it on purpose but I think his two team played really well. We were never in that match."
Indiana responded in the No. 3 match when sophomores Alecia Kauss and Shannon Murdy topped Zaina Sufi/Ana Vladutu 8-2.
IU won the doubles point after the Hoosiers' No. 44 doubles team of senior Leslie Hureau and junior Sophie Garre defeated DePaul's Matea Cutura/Jarret Fisher 8-4 in the No. 1 match.
"Winning the doubles point was huge and it helped us going into the singles and we were pretty confident," Garre said.
She said that Indiana tried to play with as much energy as possible in the doubles matches.
"In singles, we started pretty well, especially in the first set one every court," Garre said. "It helps when you watch the scoreboard and see that everybody is doing well in the first set."
The Hoosiers extended their lead when Garre bested Fisher in the No. 5 singles match. In the final game, Fisher had a deuce advantage twice but Garre fought back. Ultimately, Garre's forehand proved to be too strong for the DePaul freshman to handle and she won the match 6-0, 6-2.
Chupa followed in suit with a victory over Lawson in straight sets in the No. 4 match, which gave Indiana a 3-0 lead.
DePaul earned its first point of the match when Vladutu defeated Kauss 6-4, 6-1 in the No. 3 match.
In the No. 6 singles match, Murdy gained the advantage at deuce with a lob over the head of Sufi that fell just within the confines of the court. Other than the low hum of the IU Tennis Center's heater and the sound of forehands and backhands being traded across the court, there was silence. It was the game, set and match point for a team that had fallen on the wrong end of three competitive 4-3 matches. Murdy held off an attempted comeback by Sufi and won the singles match 6-3, 6-4, which secured the win for Indiana. This time the Hoosiers were on the winning end of a 4-3 match.
"I told the girls after the first one that we're going to have a whole bunch the rest of the year and sooner or later one will go our way," IU Coach Loring said. "This is a match we could have lost because they're a very good team. It was just nice to win a 4-3 match."
IU Coach Loring said that the Hoosiers have played very good singles and doubles tennis as a team this season. He compared IU's three consecutive 4-3 losses to a basketball team losing on a buzzer beater.
"If you lose on a three-pointer on the buzzer, you don't have to re-invent your offense and defense," he said. "We haven't changed our doubles teams and we haven't done a lot different because we've just been a little bit unlucky with the way some of those 4-3 matches fell. Literally, we're probably 12 points away from being undefeated this season"
