Pair loses in tournament, misses quarterfinals

Karie Schlukebir and Linda Tran would have liked one more victory. The junior-sophomore pair had been invincible since March 9, winning 15 doubles matches in a row before falling last week, one round short of All-American status.\n"At first just being there (Nationals) we were really ecstatic," Tran said. "But once we won our first match and got up in our second and it slipped away, we were just disappointed."\nSchlukebir agreed.\n"I was happy we got so close, but disappointed we didn't get the win," Schlukebir said of the duo's second round match.\nRelying heavily on finesse and strategy, the two pushed themselves to a late season unseeded berth at Nationals in Palo Alto, Calif. They became only the 20th doubles team in IU history to do so.\nNeeding two wins at Nationals to reach the quarter finals -- and secure All-American honors -- the pair set out to cap their streak with hardware, saying they hoped to get an early break and play an unseeded team, but were confident about their chances to get a trophy nonetheless.\nThey got their wish. The pair faced 20th-ranked Raquel Kops-Jones and Jody Scheldt of California. The formidable opponents proved little more than a warm-up for what looked like an inevitable run to the elite eight. At least in the first set.\nSchlukebir and Tran buried them 6-1 in the first set to open tournament play. They had to scratch and claw to win in straight sets, though, battling through a tie-breaker to eventually gain a 7-6 (4) advantage in the second set.\n"The girls played extremely well out there," said coach Lin Loring, who was especially happy with their first round play.\nAfter their first round victory, the duo took on Kentucky's Carolina Mayorga and Sarah Witten, a team they had beaten earlier in the season. The doubles team was seeded No. 4 in the tournament, but conceded early control of the match to the unseeded Schlukebir and Tran.\nThe Hoosiers took the first set by a commanding 6-3, exuding the confidence that had characterized them in the preceding 15-match winning streak. This confidence spilled into the second set, carrying the tandem to a 4-2 early advantage, and within two games (two points) of advancing to the round of eight.\nBut Mayorga and Witten surged. "Pushing" -- a technique consisting mainly of keeping the ball in play as long as possible, hoping to force errors -- the duo played mostly on the baseline and was able to offset IU's offensive attack.\n"They changed their strategy on us and finally someone found out how to beat us," Tran commented about the Wildcats' unorthodox but ultimately successful doubles play in the three-hour match.\nThey won the next two games pulling even at 4-4 and eventually wrapping up the set 7-5. The pendulum shifting, the Wildcats wasted little time in the third set, taking an early 3-1 lead.\nMayorga and Witten went on to win the final set 6-4 and the match, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, and eventually advanced to the semi-finals, legitimizing their No. 4 seed. \nWith the 1-1 showing at the NCAA's, Schlukebir and Tran were able to amass a season record of 35-10. The mark placed them among the top five players in all-time doubles wins in a season at IU.