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Men’s Tennis
No. 19 Alabama will test No. 64 Hoosiers

The No. 64 IU men’s tennis team welcomes a challenge in No. 19 Alabama this weekend.

The Roll Tide represents a hurdle the Hoosiers have not been able to clear; IU is 1-3 against teams ranked higher than them.

Coming off a 6-1 road loss to No. 31 Kentucky, the Hoosiers said they have an equally tough match at home on Saturday.

“We played Kentucky last week. They’re definitely, talent-wise, at the same level that Alabama is,” sophomore Lachlan Ferguson said. “We see it as one of the last chances to beat a highly ranked team that will get us into the NCAA Tournament at the end of the year.”

The Roll Tide lineup holds three nationally ranked singles players and a nationally ranked doubles team.

Typically playing a double header at home, the Hoosiers’ single match will provide them with a somewhat different mindset against Alabama.

“You only have to get yourself up for maybe four or five hours of competition as opposed to 10 or 12,” Ferguson said. “It might give you a little bit more energy going into the first match because you’re not worried about having to back it up later that day or the following day. But I think you go into every match just as prepared and ready, regardless of how many matches you have.”

With a 5-6 record on the season, the Hoosiers are playing better at home than away, as evidenced by 4-1 home record.

This weekend’s match begins a five-game homestand for IU.

“The guys who have been in the program a year or two are just trying to push that point to the younger guys in an effort to hopefully get them fired up for the weekend,” Ferguson said. “We were quite disappointed after last week’s effort. We want to turn that around this week if we can.”

– By Stephanie Kuzydym

Women’s Tennis
IU hits road for 2 top-ranked opponents this weekend

Kicking off the season with a 7-2 start, the No. 44-ranked Hoosiers have only competed against one team ranked higher than them. This weekend, IU takes on No. 22 Tennessee and No. 20 Kentucky.

Losing a 4-3 nail-biter last weekend to No. 41 DePaul, the Hoosiers open up the weekend at 4 p.m. Friday in Knoxville, Tenn.

With two individuals and one doubles combination ranked nationally, Tennessee’s Lady Volunteers have accumulated three wins against ranked opponents this season.

“We know Kentucky and Tennessee are both very, very good,” IU coach Lin Loring said. “We lost to Tennessee at home last year. They’re both ranked about ten spots ahead of us. We know it’s going to be a really tough weekend.”

After a day of rest and travel, IU will challenge Kentucky on Sunday. The team is on a longer road trip because both Tennessee and Kentucky do not have big enough facilities for all six singles matches to be played at one time.

“The match could easily be six and a half hours long,” Loring said. “To play them on back-to-back days when you have to travel in between would be really not a good idea.”

With most matches only lasting about three hours, the one-day break will refresh the Hoosiers for the Wildcats, who have one player ranked nationally.

“We’re just looking for constant improvement with every game we play,” Loring said. “So that’s how we’ll really judge this weekend, is if we’ve made some improvements since our last match.”

– By Stephanie Kuzydym

Softball
Hoosier offense searches for spark in Florida

IU coach Michelle Gardner has repeatedly stressed the need to get quality starts out of her pitchers for her team to be successful.

Last Sunday, Gardner got exactly what she wanted from sophomore pitcher Alyssa Maiese.

“I just went out there and threw, didn’t think and knew that we had nothing to lose,” Maiese said.

Keeping the “nothing to lose” mentality, the Hoosier pitching staff will look to build off its solid efforts last weekend when the team heads to Tallahassee, Fla., this weekend for the Seminole Classic.

At the Classic, the Hoosiers will face No. 4 Michigan, Florida State, UC Riverside and East Carolina. 

Maiese’s start last Sunday was one of the best the Hoosiers have had this season.

After letting up a run in the bottom of the first to the Oklahoma State Cowgirls, Maiese buckled down, blanking them for the rest of the game. Unfortunately for the Hoosiers (0-7), they were shut out for the third time this season, losing 1-0.

“It is definitely frustrating because I felt that we played our best game as a team,” Maiese said.

After going 0-6 with an ERA of 8.08 in her freshman season, Maiese appears to be making strides in her game this year with an ERA of 2.76, even though her record is 0-2.

The Hoosiers have only eight runs through seven games this season, lacking the offensive output Maiese said is important.

“Anytime the offense can put a couple of runs on the scoreboard it takes so much pressure off the pitchers and the defense,” Maiese said.

– By Connor O’Gara

Wrestling
IU faces stiff test in No. 1 Hawkeyes

This weekend brings the most daunting matches the No. 18 IU wrestling team is likely to face all season.

Going into the final week of Big Ten matches, the Hoosiers (15-5-1, 2-3-1) grapple with the defending national champions, No. 1 Iowa.

The Hawkeyes (22-0, 6-0) come in trying to preserve their undefeated road record to repeat as Big Ten champions.

Iowa brings eight grapplers ranked in the top 10 of their respective weight classes. Hawkeyes Daniel Dennis and Brent Metcalf hold the No. 1 spot in their classes of 133 pounds and 149 pounds, respectively.

Combined, the Hawkeyes’ eight have totaled 190 wins this season.

The marquee match will be the 125-pounds matchup, pitting defending national champion IU’s Angel Escobedo against the Hawks’ Charlie Fleck, an opponent Escobedo fell to last season. Escobedo and Fleck share a No. 5 national ranking.

After the showdown with Iowa at the University Gym, the Hoosiers will head north to Minneapolis on Sunday to face the Golden Gophers.

Minnesota brings similar strength to that of Iowa.

Ranked No. 12 nationally, the Golden Gophers (14-7, 4-3) and 125-pound grappler, No. 7 Zach Sanders, also present a tough test for Escobedo. Sanders defeated Fleck last weekend.

“It doesn’t get much tougher for us than this,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “Angel’s got some big matches coming up and he knows that, especially with him beating Fleck last weekend.”

IU’s No. 13 Kurt Kinser, at 157 pounds, said this weekend is important to gather momentum at the end of the season.

“They’re both real physical teams,” Kinser said. “This being the last weekend of Big Ten competition, we can really make a push going into the postseason.”

– By Frank Therber