IU seizes 2 Big Ten wins over weekend

The IU women's tennis team collected two wins against ranked Big Ten opponents this weekend at the Indiana Tennis Center and propelled coach Lin Loring, who is already the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history, to just one win shy of 300 Big Ten wins in his career.\nIn a well-attended match Friday, the No. 35 Hoosiers disposed of No. 33 Purdue 5-2, a score that belies the closeness of the match. On Sunday, IU defeated No. 59 Illinois 6-1 to remain tied for first in the Big Ten at 3-0.\nLoring said it was a good weekend for the Hoosiers.\n"We had really good team wins," he said. "Everyone contributed, whether winning in doubles, singles or both."\nLoring's prediction that the doubles point would be crucial in the IU-PU match proved correct. \nIn the deciding doubles match, IU's No. 3 pair of Alba Berdala and Cecile Perton overcame an early 4-1 deficit to force a tiebreaker against Purdue's Brittany Minna and Stephanie Wooten. The Hoosier duo won the tiebreaker 7-4 to give IU the early 1-0 lead.\n"To win that match was really crucial because I didn't think Purdue could take four singles off us," Loring said.\nOn the weekend, the No. 1 doubles team of senior Sarah Batty and junior Laura McGaffigan picked up two wins, including their first of the season against a ranked opponent, 8-5 against Illinois' No. 37 pair of Macall Harkins and Emily Wang.\n"We've played a lot of ranked teams and we compete well against them, so it really wasn't a surprise," Batty said. "It was a good win for us."\nMcGaffigan pointed to her partner as evidence of the duo's success and team-best 14-3 record.\n"Sarah always plays amazing, so it's really fun for me to get the chance to play with her," she said.\nIn singles, Batty and McGaffigan split matches on the weekend.\nAt the No. 1 spot, Batty battled back in the second set against Purdue's Hala Sufi to win 6-4, 7-6, but fell short Sunday in a tiebreaker against Illinois' Harkins 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (5). \nMcGaffigan opened the weekend with a loss at No. 2 singles to the No. 60-ranked Schuler 6-1, 7-6, but bounced back to defeat Illinois' Momei Qu 6-0, 6-2.\nFreshman Sigrid Fischer extended her winning streak in singles to five during the weekend with a 6-0, 6-0 win against Purdue at the No. 5 spot and a 6-4, 6-2 win against Illinois playing No. 4 singles. Fischer leads the Hoosiers with 14 singles wins.\nSophomore Brianna Williams went 2-0 in singles on the weekend, including a three-set win against Purdue, as did Perton at No. 6 singles. Berdala also contributed a singles win against Illinois.\nThe Hoosiers will go on the road this weekend against No. 4 Northwestern and Wisconsin.\nFaced with the scenario of earning Loring's 300th win against conference powerhouse Northwestern, Batty said, "That would be perfect"