Boilermakers surprise IU 4-3 in tourney

The No. 4-seeded IU women's tennis team entered its quarterfinal Big Ten Championships match in Champaign, Ill., against No. 5-seed Purdue, the same Purdue team it had defeated at home 5-2 March 24. At the Illini Grove Tennis Courts, however, something different happened.\n"It was a different team," said senior Sarah Batty of the No. 47 Boilermakers. "We all had different opponents, different matchups. Everything was completely different."\nThose differences included the match's outcome, a 4-3 Boilermaker victory. Purdue topped IU for the first time ever in postseason play and only the third time in 51 meetings.\nThe loss marked the No. 42 Hoosiers' third in the final four matches of the season, which included a 4-3 loss to No. 30 Iowa and a 5-2 loss to No. 31 Michigan.\nIU coach Lin Loring said the IU-PU match was a toss up in the days leading up to the tournament despite the Hoosiers' historical success against Purdue.\n"It's tough to beat a team twice that is even with you," Loring said prior to the tournament.\nHis forecast proved correct as the in-state rematch played out similar to the Hoosiers' other recent losses, coming down to a few crucial points.\n"It came down to the doubles point," Loring said. "There are no excuses, we should have won the doubles point. That was the match."\nIU lost the doubles point 2-1, with the lone victory coming from the No. 3 doubles tandem of junior Cecile Perton and freshman Marah Calvo 8-2. Purdue pulled out the other two matches, winning at No. 1 doubles 8-6 and at the No. 2 spot 9-7.\nLoring had no answer for his team's late-season doubles woes. \n"We had been playing good doubles all season until the end," he said. "I don't know why."\nThe Hoosiers regained some ground in singles. Perton capped an umblemished day with a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles. At No. 2 singles, junior Laura McGaffigan topped Purdue's Brooke Beier in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. Also winning in straight sets was sophomore Alba Berdala, 6-0, 6-2, over the Boilermaker's Anna Dzeva.\nBatty dropped a tight two-set match to No. 98 Randi Schuler 7-5, 7-5 to even the match at 3-3. The deciding match came down to No. 3 singles where sophomore Brianna Williams overcame a one-set deficit to force a third against Purdue's Mallory Voelker.\nWilliams said her opponents' errors allowed her to climb back in the match, but Voelker finished strong, winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.\nWith the loss, IU falls to 17-8 on the season and will wait until Wednesday to see if it made the NCAA Championships, which begin May 12. The Hoosiers consider themselves to be on the bubble. All of IU's losses this season have come from opponents currently ranked in the top 31, excluding Purdue.\n"If we make the NCAA Championships, you definitely have to call it a successful season," Loring said.