Around sports

Men’s tennis
IU looks to rebound at home

IU men’s tennis coach Randy Bloemendaal has high expectations of his players.

It was for that reason that he was so disappointed by his team’s 4-0 loss at No. 10 Ole Miss last weekend.

At the end of the day, though, Bloemendaal understands his remarkably young team will go through growing pains during the course of the season. What really matters, he said, is how the Hoosiers respond to the adversity.

IU (1-1) will try to get back on the winning track tomorrow when it hosts Tennessee Tech and Butler.

“I really do think our guys will respond to it. I think they’re resilient,” Bloemendaal said. “To get our confidence going, I think these are two very important matches. We have a lot of talent on this team, it’s just how quick our learning curve is. The guys are hungry, and I think it’s very important that we come out and send a message this weekend.”

The Hoosiers’ competition level will be much lower than it has been in recent weeks.

The Hoosiers are 12-1 all-time against Butler, including a 6-1 victory last year. The Bulldogs are 0-3 on the young season, with IU being their fourth Big Ten opponent already.

IU has never faced Tennessee Tech in a dual match. The unranked Golden Eagles have yet to play a match this spring, as their season opener against Lipscomb was postponed due to a winter storm.

Even though his club will be favored in both matches, Bloemendaal isn’t ready to take any team lightly.

“This weekend is going to be tough because we are playing a team in Tennessee Tech that has dominated their conference for years, so they are going to know how to win,” he said. “We need to start showing that we can execute against good teams.”

– Justin Albers

Track and field
Hoosiers hit the road for the first time

The IU track and field team will hit the road this weekend for its first away meet of the season on Friday and Saturday.

The Hoosier throwers will go to Southern Illinois while the rest of the team will head
north to the University of Notre Dame for the Meyo Invitational.

“We rarely split up our team,” IU coach Ron Helmer explained. “But for our throwers,

Southern Illinois presents better facilities and a higher level of competition.”
In South Bend, Ind., the IU runners look to build upon their success from last week’s Indiana Relays in Bloomington.

A longer track and top-level competition will set the stage for big races in the men’s and women’s 800 meter, the women’s distance medley relay and the women’s 5,000 meter.

Senior Molly Beckwith has performed well at Notre Dame in the past. At the Meyo Invitational last season, she set a new IU record in the 800 meter.

“I think my favorite part of the Meyo Invitational is the high level of competition,” Beckwith said. “It’s almost like being at a national meet.”

– Avi Zaleon

Water polo
Hoosiers go on the road again

The No. 18 IU women’s water polo (1-2) team is set for another road trip, as it will travel to La Jolla, Calif., to compete this weekend in the Triton Invitations, which ends Feb 7.

IU opened the season 1-2 at the Michigan Kick-Off on Jan. 23-24. The Hoosiers fell short to the No. 5 UCLA Bruins and No. 8 San Jose State Spartans on the first day, but they rallied the next day and ended the weekend with a 13-7 win over the Colorado State Rams.

IU coach Barry Kind said the first week’s setback would not likely affect the team’s confidence and goals in the upcoming games.

“I think we are ready to make a statement about what kind of team we are,” King said.
“We want to respond to the tough schedule with more consistent competition, and we want to do well over there.”

With 12 players on the team from California, the road trip might be translated into the familiarity of home.

IU made five trips to UC San Diego for invitational tournaments in their first 12 seasons, holding an 8-13 overall record. In the last meeting with UC Santa Barbara, IU won 7-6, and the Hoosiers are 3-2 in overall matchups.

– Kevin Wang

Women’s golf
Hoosier women head to Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico, is the IU women’s golf team’s destination this weekend as they play in their first tournament of the 2010 spring season, the Lady Puerto Rico Classic.

The Hoosiers are coming off an impressive 9.5-8.5 victory over Wisconsin last week in the Westlake Cup.

“We did a lot of really good things. Our short games and our putting were surprisingly pretty good for the winter layoff. I was extremely pleased,” IU coach Clint Wallman said.

The trip to Phoenix for the Westlake Cup allowed the Hoosiers a chance to hit the golf course before heading outside the U.S. this weekend.

“It was a good warmup for us before we head off to Puerto Rico,” senior Laura Nochta said. “It was something we needed to do, and I think everyone found out what they needed to work on before our first event.”

The Lady Puerto Rico Classic will include six Big Ten teams and over half of the 16 teams in the field are ranked in the top 50 nationally.

“It is a nationally level field, but it is a field we can compete in,” Wallman said. “From what I saw this past weekend, if we can convert our opportunities we will be right in there.”

The Hoosiers finished 14th last year at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, with the lone bright spot coming from Nochta’s first-place finish individually.

Nochta said the tournament gave her a lot of momentum heading into the spring season and showed that she can play with the best players in the nation.

“Finishing in the top five would be a good goal for us,” Nochta said. “It is a good field, but we are just as good as anyone out there, and if we play like we did this past weekend, we will do great.”

– Kevin Bowen

Men’s swimming and diving
IU preps for final meet this year

The No. 25 men’s swimming and diving team will host No. 18 Purdue for their final dual meet of the season.

The Hoosiers will honor their six graduating seniors Saturday and have a final opportunity to tune up for the Big Ten and NCAA Championships.

IU coach Ray Looze wants his team to get a final big win to close out the regular season.

“We built some good momentum against Lousiville,” he said. “We want to make a significant impact against Purdue and move forward.”

The men have struggled throughout the season with experience, injury and depth, but they seemed to finally hit their stride going into the final and most important part of the season.

In preparation, this week Looze had his men continue to work on speed and building confidence in some of his swimmers that have not been performing to their potential.

IU will look to every member of the team to contribute in order to earn a victory. Looze also hopes a big home crowd will help his Hoosiers pull out a win.

The men will need to build on their momentum to peak during championship meets, he said.

– Caitlin Ursini