IU narrowly falls to Notre Dame

The sunburn painted on both athletes' and spectators' faces was an indication of the type of match played Sunday at IU's Varsity Tennis Courts.\nA warm morning scorched itself into a hot afternoon, but the sun's pounding and the fight of the Irish proved to be just barely too much for the Hoosiers, who narrowly fell to Notre Dame 4-3.\nBoth competitors were coming off two strong wins. No. 35 IU had blanked Ohio State 7-0 two days earlier, and No. 31 Notre Dame had defeated No. 16 William and Mary a day prior.\nIU (11-9, 5-1) walked into the match confident after disarming the Buckeyes, keeping them from winning even a doubles contest, but the Hoosiers got off to a bad start.\n"We got off to a little bit of a slow start like we did with Ohio State," said IU coach Lin Loring.\nIU lost the doubles point despite both a tie-breaking win from senior Dora Vastag and sophomore Cecile Perton and a strong effort from junior Sarah Batty and senior Dominika Walterova in their 8-6 loss against ND's fourth ranked tandem.\nBut the close doubles matches didn't compare to the culminating points that would come later.\nSingles play began with two losses from Vastag and sophomore Laura McGaffigan, but up 3-0, the Irish eventually began to question the outcome of the match.\nWalterova kicked it off by handling her opponent in two sets at her No. 4 spot, in what coach Loring would call a great win for her.\n"(Dominika) won back-to-back (this weekend)," Loring said. "It was just a great breakthrough for her."\nAt the No. 6 spot, there were no surprises from Perton, who has been steady all year according to Loring. She accounted for the second Hoosier point in her three-set win.\nDown 3-2, it would all come down to Batty and freshman Brianna Williams.\nAfter easily winning the first set 6-2 against No. 90 Brook Buck, Buck turned the tables on Batty beating her in the second set by the same score.\nThe two then went back-and-forth at each other in the third set, climbing eventually to a tie-breaker. Batty eventually won the thriller and evened the score.\n"It really felt great to finally win (the match that went back-and-forth)," said Batty, who picked up her third win over a ranked foe this season. "It was just really a great win overall for me."\nNow, down 4-3 in her third set, all attention turned to Williams.\n"It was a great learning experience for Brianna," said Loring of the freshman who was pitted up against a junior.\nNotre Dame's Kristina Stastny pulled up 5-3, and Williams threatened at 5-4. But after a few balls sailed over Williams, who stands at 5'2", the deficit proved to be too much as Stastny won the set 6-4.\n"The team overall did really well," Williams said. "We just about beat the team that beat the 16th-ranked team in the country."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Andy Romey at aromey@indiana.edu.