Hoosiers tripped up at Big Ten quarterfinals

Everything went in reverse this weekend in East Lansing, Mich., at the Big Ten tournament. And the Hoosiers' quarterfinal loss to No. 7 seed Michigan was no exception.\nLast week offered no indication of how the weekend would play out, as nearly every team that lost during that week managed to pull off a victory against the team that beat them. \nIowa beat Purdue after being upset by the Boilers the weekend before, and the No. 40 Hoosiers (14-11) followed suit with a 4-2 loss to the Wolverines -- the team that they beat 4-3 a weekend before. But after losing to the eventual runners-up, IU coach Lin Loring said he saw a few things that he was happy about.\n"I think the results just show how great of an accomplishment it was for us to get second," Loring said. "It's just hard to beat a team twice when you've been even with them all year."\nAnd IU has been even with many other Big Ten teams this year as well, as Loring has been saying all season long that he knew IU was one of six teams all vying for second place. The Hoosiers fought their way to the No. 2 seed by beating out Purdue, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan in the regular season. All of them fell under Northwestern, the regular season and tournament champions.\nSenior Dominika Walterova and junior Sarah Batty offered more for Loring to be happy about, as the No. 53-ranked duo sealed the doubles point with their victory over No. 21 Kara Delicata and Michelle DaCosta. IU's top tandem finished this season 10-1. They also managed to beat the same Wolverine duo last weekend and have even nearly beat the No. 1 doubles team in the nation, losing 8-6.\n"For them to go 10-1, that's just quite an accomplishment," Loring said.\nThe next major thing on the Hoosiers' plate is the NCAA tournament in Athens, Ga., where Loring says he is almost completely certain he will see his team compete May 19.\n"The loss to Michigan won't hurt us too bad because we beat them last weekend," Loring said. "We've beaten teams that are going to get in, and we've never really lost to anyone who isn't going to get in."\nThe selection committee will pick 64 teams to participate in an ESPN presentation 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, and Loring said performances against tournament-bound teams are one of the major deciding factors.\n"I think we'll do really well," sophomore Laura McGaffigan said. "We've played a lot of good teams already this year."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Andy Romey at aromey@indiana.edu.