No. 30 Hoosiers aim to ace Buckeyes on road

The IU women's tennis team will travel to Columbus, Ohio this weekend to take on No. 68 Ohio State. The No. 30 Hoosiers are seeking their fifth Big Ten win of the season to remain in the upper-echelon of the conference. \nIU coach Lin Loring enters the contest confident his team will excel. Last season, the Hoosiers swept the doubles competition against the Buckeyes and four current Hoosiers claimed singles wins in the 7-0 victory.\n"Ohio State is a little down right now," Loring said. "We match up well with them."\nLoring's lone concern early in the week was whether IU would be prepared to play outdoors. Weather permitting, Sunday's match will be the first outdoor match of the spring season for the Hoosiers.\n"We practiced outside on (Wednesday), and it went well," Loring said.\nThe No. 1 doubles pair of senior Sarah Batty and junior Laura McGaffigan will enter the match touting their first national ranking since January. Currently No. 57, the duo upset Illinois' then-No. 37 pair of Macall Harkins and Emily Wang March 26. Batty and McGaffigan boast a 15-4 record on the season and a 4-1 ledger in the Big Ten.\nThe Hoosiers are looking to build off their first Big Ten road win of the season, which came last week at Wisconsin. Against the Badgers, the Hoosiers overcame adverse court conditions to claim a win Batty said came "a lot tougher than we thought." The win was also Loring's 300th in Big Ten play. McGaffigan thinks No. 301 is within reach this weekend.\n"Ohio State's a good team, but we should win if we play well," she said.