Notre Dame comes back to beat Hoosiers

The final score might not show it, but IU's women\'s tennis team gave seventh-ranked Notre Dame quite a scare Wednesday evening at the IU Tennis Center. \nIU (11-7, 2-2 Big Ten) jumped out to a quick lead by winning the doubles point, but the Irish (18-4) regrouped in the singles, defeating the Hoosiers by a final score of 6-1.\nEven though IU lost every singles match, four of those matches went three sets.\n"I thought we played good, but not great," coach Lin Loring said. "Nobody had their best match of the year, which is very encouraging that we were able to play with the No. 7 team in the country."\nThe Hoosiers dominated out of the gate, winning two of the three doubles matches by a comfortable margin. The No. 2 doubles team of sophomore Karie Schlukebir and freshman Linda Tran beat Kimberly Guy and Katie Cunha 8-2. The No. 3 doubles team was victorious 8-3, as junior Amanda Field and senior Jennifer Hsia defeated Lindsey Green and Nina Vaughan. Senior Kelly Blanch and sophomore Jessica Levin fell 8-1 at the No.1 spot, to Michelle Dasso and Becky Varnum, the fifth-ranked doubles team in the country. \n"That was probably the best match our No. 3 doubles has played all year," Loring said. "It is also probably the first time in three years that we have taken the doubles point from a top-ten team."\nHsia said IU might have caught Notre Dame a little off-guard.\n"We were ready and pumped," Hsia said. "I think they were surprised. They didn\'t expect us to win like that." \nAfter losing in the doubles, No. 1 singles player Blanch quickly rebounded by winning the first set 6-4 against Notre Dame's All-American and third- ranked singles player in the country -- Dasso. After trading breaks to start the second set, Dasso won the set 6-2, bringing the match even at one set apiece. Dasso proved too much for Blanch to handle in the end, earning a 6-4 third- set victory, and giving her the match.\nIn addition to Blanch, Tran and freshman Martina Grimm won their first set only to see their match slip away in the next two sets. Levin also was defeated in three sets, losing the first but winning the second. \n"We played well, but Notre Dame played well at the right times," Tran said. "They hit the crucial shots in the very close matches."\nThe loss halted IU's four-match winning streak and extended Notre Dame's to three consecutive wins. Notre Dame was the highest-ranked team IU has faced all year, and the players and coaches said they considered it a learning experience.\n"We didn't have anything to lose by playing a good team like Notre Dame," Tran said. "It is great to play well and win, but even when we lose, we learn a lot and keep improving."\nLoring also said he thought the match was a good opportunity to improve.\n"Our whole goal at the beginning of the season was to see improvement in certain areas every match," he said. "Against the poorer teams, we were pleased we didn't play down to their level. Here we have a win-win situation. Now we know if we play at least this well, we can compete with a top-ten team"