Women's team upset by No. 40 Iowa; Regionals next

After notching upset after upset to clinch a share of the Big Ten regular season title, the second seeded IU women's tennis team found themselves on the wrong side of an upset for the first time all year. The No. 21 Hoosiers fell in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten championships to No. 40 and seventh seed Iowa, 4-3.\nIn what was IU's strength all season long, it was the doubles play that got the Hoosiers off to a slow start from which they could not seem to recover. Winning only one of the three doubles matches, Iowa jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in stealing the top two doubles matches from one of the best doubles teams in the Big Ten.\nSeniors Martina Grimm and Karie Schlukebir won IU's first match, downing Iowa's third doubles pair, 8-4. But an upset of senior Linda Tran and sophomore Sarah Batty started the momentum switch IU couldn't quite get over. Suffering its only doubles loss to a Big Ten foe and only their second loss all season, IU's No. 26 doubles tandem in the nation fell, 8-5 to the number one Hawkeye doubles team. Soon after, Iowa secured the doubles point when junior Dora Vastag and freshman Laura McGaffigan dropped their match to Iowa's Alexandrova/Zhukova, 8-5.\n"It's always bad to lose the doubles point," Schlukebir said. "When that happens, you know you have to win four of the next six matches, when they only need to win three. Even for everyone's spirits, it puts everyone down a little bit before we have to go out and play our singles matches. So losing the doubles point was big."\nBut the Hoosiers did not let the slow start deter them from attacking at all six singles positions. IU won the first singles match to tie the score, 1-1. Vastag, the No. 1 Hoosier singles player defeated Meg Racette, 6-4, 6-3 to even the deficit created with the doubles loss.\nThe two teams then went back-and-forth in the next four matches. Tran dropped the No. 2 position for IU, falling to Hillary Mintz in a 6-1, 6-2 straight set defeat before IU responded, winning two of the next three matches to tie the score at three.\nWith the quarterfinal match on the line, Schlukebir and her number five singles match became the deciding contest. After dropping the first set 4-6, the sixth-year senior rallied back to take the second set, 6-4. But after going ahead 4-3 in the third, Schlukebir lost three straight games in a one point Hawkeye win.\nIU coach Lin Loring said in a season of so many close matches, the team was bound to drop a close one eventually, and overall he was pleased with his team's performance.\n"I really have no complaints about the match," Loring said. "During the season we had five Big Ten matches that could have gone either way, and we won all five. This is the first time we have had one of those matches where it could have gone either way and we ended up losing it. Sooner or later it catches up to you."\nAfter sweeping Iowa 7-0 and handing the Hawkeyes their only home loss of the season, the black and gold got their revenge on IU, moving the Hoosiers to 53-10 all time in Big Ten Championship play.\n"Iowa just came out ready to play," Tran said. "Honestly, I think the team took Iowa too lightly after we beat them 7-0 before. They kept fighting and got the momentum from the beginning with the doubles point. Then we just had to play catch-up the whole time and we just couldn't get it."\nIU must now wait until the NCAA Regional selection show to learn what lies ahead in their postseason play. The Hoosiers will begin Regionals action as a No. 2 seed, but must wait until their opponent is announced at 3 p.m., Wednesday. \nThe NCAA Regional Championships begin May 14 with the NCAA Championships continuing May 20 through 29.\n-- Contact staff writer Jeff Fuldauer at jfuldaue@indiana.edu.