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(10/19/00 5:47am)
In the last 24 years, one name has been synonymous with IU's women's tennis program. Whereas other programs have seen much turnover, coach Lin Loring has brought stability and success to a tennis program regarded as the best in Big Ten history.\nIU has won 15 Big Ten titles in Loring's tenure, 11 more than Northwestern, which has the next highest total of conference championships. Only five schools have won Big Ten titles in that time. From 1978-1985, Loring's teams won 104 consecutive matches against Big Ten opponents. For his career, Loring is 264-34 against Big Ten teams. He said the team doesn't talk about winning titles, just improvement.\n"We don't talk about outcome goals, because you can't control those," Loring said. "We only talk about performance goals, because if you set up goals you can control, then the other things will fall into place."\nLoring has won two national coach of the year awards, six Midwest coach of the year awards and has been honored four times as the Big Ten coach of the year. His teams have made the NCAA tournament 14 times and in 1982, IU won a national championship, the first women's championship in IU history.\n"That championship was very significant," he said. "We had a great bunch of ladies and it was a fun year. But it was especially significant because it was the last year for the AIAW, and women's sports wouldn't be around if not for the AIAW."\nThe honors and achievements culminated in 1995, when Loring became the first women's tennis coach to surpass 500 wins. He has since raised that total to an NCAA record 587. When coupled with only 174 losses, that gives Loring a .771 winning percentage.\nThe women on the team said they enjoy playing for him.\n"He is very highly respected in the collegiate community, so it means a lot," senior Jennifer Hsia said. "Some coaches tell you what you want to hear, but he is honest. It makes it very easy to play for him."\nTeammate Amanda Field, a junior, said Loring's knowledge of the game gives him an edge.\n"One, he is very knowledgeable and two, he is organized and structured," Field said. "He gets the most out of practices. With the changes in tennis, he can get into the heads of a lot of other coaches."\nLoring said he will continue to coach as long as he enjoys it. \nWhen he looks back on his career, he said the relationship with the players will mean the most to him. The team has alumni reunions and puts out an alumni newsletter a couple times a year.\n"They all still write to me and send me baby pictures and wedding pictures. We are all one big family," Loring said. "And if the girls' experiences here didn't mean anything to them, then I wouldn't be getting those pictures and letters"
(10/09/00 5:19am)
Despite her youth, freshman Linda Tran could hardly be considered inexperienced when it comes to playing tennis. She picked up the game at the age of 9, and since then, nothing has stopped her, not even the transition to the college game. Three weeks ago, playing in her first college tournament, Tran won her singles flight at the Indiana Fall Invitational, and she said she hopes to continue her success.\nTran was one of the top recruits in tennis last season, but IU wasn\'t her first choice. She wanted to go to a southeast school and get out of the Big Ten. Tran, from Grand Rapids, Mich., made trips to Miami, Fla., Florida State, South Carolina, and then finally made a trip to IU at the urging of friend and tennis team member, Karie Schlukebir. After the visit to IU, Tran promptly cancells her remaining trip to Northwestern. \n"I loved it here," Tran said. "The campus is beautiful and Indiana has a good business school. And the girls (on the team) were all real nice."\nCoach Lin Loring said that assistant coach Ramiro Azcui gets credit for landing Tran because he recruited her to the end. \nSchlukebir, who has known Tran since they were 10, said she wanted her to make a visit because once she came, she would love it. \n"Plus, the availability of having her parents come down to watch her, yet still be far enough away couldn\'t happen at a school in the Southeast," Schlukebir said.\nBecause Tran has a tremendous amount of experience playing in juniors, the transition to the college game hasn't been as difficult as it might be for some. Tran and sophomore Jessica Levin won the 1998 Girls 18 indoor doubles championship. \nTran also competed in the Easter Bowl and finished fourth in doubles this year. Players have to be invited to compete in the bowl. Tran has been ranked in the top-10 in the Midwest for her entire junior career. All of this, and she didn't even play high school tennis. But she said that hasn\'t hurt her.\n"I think I am better off," Tran said. I got to travel to national tournaments and play against better competition."\nOne of the major adjustments Tran has had to make is she is now under a new coach. But that was one of the reasons she chose IU. She said she wanted a male coach because she has always been coached by men. \nAnother adjustment is the competition level. Tran said the players are smarter, and all of the top players were the ones that were at Nationals in the junior level.\nThe adjustments have been going well judging by the early-season results. Going into her first tournament, she was confident, but her win two weeks ago wasn\'t expected.\n"I just wanted to do well and come out and make a good showing," she said. "I won my first junior tournament and now my first college tournament."\nLoring said he wasn't surprised. \n"She had good credentials coming out of high school, and we knew she could make an impact on our program," he said.\nTran said she wants to be Big Ten freshman of the year, and Loring said he thinks this is a realistic goal. \n"She is a good athlete that is only limited by her (5-foot-3 stature)," Loring said. "But she competes well and has good foot speed. She works hard in the weight room and on the courts.\n"Most freshmen coming in don't know how to play doubles correctly, but Linda has a clue. She is also solid in singles," he said.\nNow entering this weekend's Hoosier Classic Invitational, does Tran feel any different?\n"I\'ll still be nervous when Thursday night rolls around, but I'll be fine once I set foot on the courts on Friday," she said.
(10/06/00 5:01am)
The women's tennis team continues its season this weekend in the Hoosier Classic Invitational. Five teams from around the country travel to compete with IU in what will be a stiffer test for the Hoosiers than the Indiana Fall Invitational.\nKansas State, LSU, Marquette, Middle Tennessee State and Ohio State join the Hoosiers for matches in a format that is the same as three weekends ago. No team points are handed out; the Hoosiers play singles and doubles matches. Coaches are given another opportunity to evaluate the progress of their teams as they head to the start of conference seasons in January.\nIU dominated the invitational three weekends ago, but coach Lin Loring said he expects challenges from each team.\n"KSU is very good, and Ohio State was the regular-season Big Ten champ," he said. "LSU made the Sweet 16 of the NCAAs, and Marquette is always a good Midwest team."\nIU has faced LSU, Marquette and Ohio State in the past, but this will be the Hoosiers' first meeting with Kansas State and Middle Tennessee State. The Hoosiers are 3-0 against LSU and 5-2 against Marquette, including a 7-2 win against them last year. IU is 25-3 against Ohio State, but the Hoosiers were beaten 4-3 in Big Ten play last year.\n"This will be much harder because the teams coming to the tournament are a lot better," junior Karie Schlukebir said.\nAt the Fall Invitational, Loring used several lineups, and he plans to experiment again this weekend as the Hoosiers try to find winning doubles competitions. The singles lineup might also be altered because senior Kelly Blanch turned an ankle at the last tournament and has just begun to practice again. \n"This tournament will be tougher," freshman Linda Tran said. "We just want to have another good showing and hopefully play up to our abilities."\nIn the last tournament, five Hoosiers won their singles matches. Loring said he wants to make sure the team continues to improve.\n"After the last tournament, everybody set down two things that they wanted to make better, so we will be working on individual things this weekend," he said.