Hoosiers get pair of wins in opener

IU coach Lin Loring's women's tennis team answered his "big question mark" Saturday at the Tennis Center in the team's season-opening route of DePaul and Ball State.\nIn a pair of 6-1 defeats, IU saw its athletes victorious in all of the day's doubles matches. Prior to the match, Loring said that his biggest concern going into the opener would be the play of his doubles teams.\nRegardless of the team's flawless performance in doubles, Loring said he felt there was still uncertainty in this aspect of IU's play.\n"We know more now," he said. "But I think we're probably going to experiment a little (with doubles play) in the future."\nAfter sweeping doubles against DePaul in its first match, the Hoosiers experienced more resistance from DePaul in singles play where four of the six matches were decided by tie-breakers.\nIn the No. 1 spot for the Hoosiers, senior Dora Vastag won what turned out to be an up-and-down match against DePaul's Marina Parashkevova. Vastag took the match, 6-2, 0-6, 1-0, (6), taking the final four points of its tie-breaker.\nJunior Sarah Batty was victorious at the No. 2 spot for the Hoosiers in the next tie-breaking match, 3-6, 7-6, 1-0, (5), and sophomore Laura McGaffigan was victorious at the No. 3 spot in another down-to-the-wire match, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0, (6).\nSenior Dominika Walterova lost the last tie-breaker at the No. 5 spot, 7-5, 6-7, 1-0, (10).\nFreshman Brianna Williams and sophomore Cecile Perton both posted the Hoosier's final two singles wins, (6-3, 6-1) and (6-2, 6-1), respectively.\nThe Hoosiers then took on Ball State in their second win of the day in which IU again won all doubles matches and five out of the six singles matches.\nThe top five for IU won all their singles matches without ever coming close to allowing one to be decided by a third, tie-breaking match.\nBall State scored its only point of the day in the sixth match when Stephanie Farrar defeated Perton, 2-6, 6-1, 1-0, (6), in what ended up being the fifth tie-breaker of the day.\nAfter the matches, Vastag said that she was pleased with her team's performance.\n"I think (it's important for us to) get back into our match play mode," Vastag said. "This is our first match after our three-month period."\nMcGaffigan, who was recently ranked 25th in the Midwestern Region, shared her teammate's sentiments about the team's performance.\n"We just have to get ready for our next matches," McGaffigan said. "We play really tough teams."\nThe Hoosiers will venture to North Carolina next weekend to take on No. 8 Duke University and No. 15 University of North Carolina.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Andy Romey at aromey@indiana.edu.