Hoosiers face pair of rivals this weekend

The toughest weekend of the season has passed, but the IU women’s tennis team can’t fall asleep on this weekend’s opponents. \nThe No. 33 Hoosiers lost to No. 2 Notre Dame and now-No. 9 Northwestern last weekend in what was the team’s most difficult pair of matches this season. IU’s schedule eases up this weekend, but only by comparison. \nTraveling to both Champaign, Ill., and West Lafayette this weekend, the Hoosiers (15-5, 5-1) will play Illinois (5-12, 1-5) Saturday before a showdown with in-state rival No. 45 Purdue (11-5, 4-2) on Sunday. \nIU coach Lin Loring said that while both Illinois and Purdue have played below expectations thus far, neither match will be an easy victory for his team. \n“Illinois is a little down this year, but they’ve got some experienced players,” he said. “They just haven’t been putting it together. That’s one of those matches where we have to be careful.” \nLoring said that Purdue was picked to finish third in the Big Ten this season, and he’s going to expect that level of play from them despite their struggles. \n“Purdue has a new tennis center and they’ve played very well at home,” he said. “When they have everybody in the lineup, they’re a very, very good team.” \nNo matter how good the Boilermakers are, junior Brianna Williams said that’s a match she always wants to win. \n“That’s our rival,” she said. “It’s a tradition of IU to play Purdue, so it’s obviously an important match.” \nWith IU being favored against both opponents this weekend, the two matches are important for the Hoosiers’ quest for a NCAA tournament bid. Loring said that without a major upset last weekend, IU will need to win every match it’s supposed to in order to lock up a postseason berth. \nSenior Laura McGaffigan said she and her teammates are making an effort to stay focused as they begin to wrap up the regular season.\n“We’re just getting pumped up to finish off the season strong,” she said. “All the teams (in the Big Ten) are pretty strong, and you can’t really overlook any of them.”