IU comes up short against Arizona

The IU women's tennis team (17-8) traveled to Los Angeles looking for its first NCAA tournament win since 1997. Instead, the second seeded Hoosiers were upset by third seeded Arizona (7-13) 4-2, Friday at Marks Tennis Stadium at Southern California.\nThough the Wildcats record was under .500, the Hoosiers anticipated the match might come down to the end, so getting an early lead was important.\nIU started the match the way it hoped, by claiming the doubles point and starting off with a 1-0 advantage.\nComing away with victories for the Hoosiers were junior Dora Vastag and freshman Laura McGaffigan at No. 2 doubles, 8-4, and at No. 3 doubles were seniors Karie Schlukebir and Martina Grimm.\nThat point was a big boost for the team, Schlukebir said.\n"We felt good after getting the point," Schlukebir said. "Knowing that going into singles we needed three to advance was an advantage."\nHaving a 1-0 advantage meant IU could split the singles and still advance. \nArizona came out strong in singles play as they claimed points at No. 1 and 2 singles to grab a 2-1 lead.\nProviding a point for the Hoosiers, freshman Cecile Perton came away with a victory at No. 6 singles.\nPerton's win over sophomore Iza Ferreira 6-3, 6-1, tied the match and in the process provided her with a NCAA tournament win in her first appearance.\n"It was a pretty nice feeling," Perton said. "I just played my game and enjoyed the experience."\nWith the matched knotted at 2-2, it came down to a best of three matches to decide who would advance to the second round of the tournament.\nThe Hoosiers had their opportunities, but couldn't capitalize as two of the three singles matches went to three sets. Tiebreaker points were important at No. 3 and 4 singles.\nAt No. 3 singles sophomore Sarah Batty started off the match well by claiming the first set, 7-6, but dropped the next and was winning in the third and final set before the match was called after Arizona claimed the final point at No. 4 singles.\nPlaying at No. 4 for IU was McGaffigan who after winning the first set 6-3, lost the second 7-6, before losing the final set 6-2, to end the match.\nFor the team the loss marked the end of a co-Big Ten championship season and the end of three seniors' time at IU -- Grimm, Schlukebir and Linda Tran. \nThough IU fell in the first round, IU coach Lin Loring was pleased with the play against Arizona, he said. \n"I thought we competed well today, many of our losses have been to outdoor teams outside, and we had trouble again today," Loring said. "I'm happy about the NCAA experience they got, it's invaluable for them to be on the road and play at USC where they got such great tradition."\nFor most of the team the season is over, but for Tran and Batty they will continue play as they were selected to compete in the doubles championship in Athens, Ga., and Vastag was selected as an alternate in the singles bracket.\n-- Contact staff writer Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu.