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MEN'S TENNIS
IU heads to Oklahoma for top-notch competition
 
One of the IU men’s tennis team’s main goals this season is to reach the NCAA Tournament.

To make that goal a reality, the Hoosiers will have to learn to beat a highly ranked team on the road.

The team had one chance to do that this season when it visited then-No. 10 Mississippi on Jan. 31, however, the result was a disappointing 4-0 loss, giving IU its only defeat of the young season.

When the No. 48 Hoosiers (4-1) travel to Oklahoma this weekend for matches against the Sooners and the Tulsa Hurricanes, it will attempt to put the Ole Miss loss behind it and show that result was an exception, not a rule.

“We’re going to take it one match at a time because they are both going to be difficult matches,” IU coach Randy Bloemendaal said. “I think it will be a kind of barometer to see where we’re at. The guys have a lot to gain as far as what people outside of Indiana think of us. I know we have a top-20 team. Now we have to go out and prove it.”

Both Tulsa and Oklahoma will pose difficult challenges for the Hoosiers.

Tulsa (7-3) is ranked No. 33 in the latest ITA poll, and its No. 1 singles player, Ashley Watling, is ranked No. 32 in the nation.

Oklahoma, which has been somewhat of a surprise team, could be even tougher.

The Sooners (4-1) have won three consecutive matches, all against ranked opponents, to move their ranking from No. 44 to No. 26. Whoever plays at No. 1 singles for the Hoosiers will face his toughest test of the season against 11th-ranked Andrei Daescu.

Bloemendaal wouldn’t guarantee that junior Santiago Gruter will play at the top spot in both matches.

“Whoever plays up there is going to have a good opportunity,” Bloemendaal said. “All of our guys are playing at the caliber of being ranked. They just have to go out there and get the wins.”
— Justin Albers

SOFTBALL
Hoosiers travel to Miss. seeking improved play

The IU softball team looks to improve its 2-5 record as it heads to Hattiesburg, Miss., to play four teams in the Southern Mississippi Invitational this weekend.

“I think anytime we are going down there, we are facing some competition, but we need to pick up some wins,” IU coach Michelle Gardner said.

IU will start with a game against Jackson State at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Tigers went 17-35 last year in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

“I think it’s a good weekend coming up,” senior pitcher Monica Wright said. “The competition will be tough, but it’s a good time for us to refocus our goals and implement them towards these games.”

Five hours later, the Hoosiers play against the home-field advantaged Golden Eagles, who went 26-28-2 last year.

Junior pitcher Sara Olson is tied for first with sophomore infielder Samantha Berenter on the team with a .400 batting average and leads the team with four home runs this year.

“I think all of these games are very winnable if we stick together and play our game,” Berenter said.

The Hoosiers start off with Central Arkansas on Sunday, a division 1-AA team that finished seventh last year in the Southland Conference.

Before coming back to Bloomington, IU faces the Belmont Bruins, who went 11-35 last year in the Atlantic Sun conference.

“Our goal is to get better every day and get better in working together and communicating offensively and defensively,” Wright said.
— Aaron Siegal-Eisman

CLUB CRICKET
Cricket tourney kicks off this weekend

The IU Cricket Club will kick off its in-house tournament and fundraiser at 5:15 p.m Saturday at the HPER gym. The tourney will feature round-robin play between four teams of club members.

Pitting two Cricket Club teams (A and B), an undergraduate team and a computer science team against each other will showcase a variety of players with differing experience and talent, club President Prolay Mondal said. 

“This tournament is going to help us pick up the best players,” he said. “There are a lot of new undergraduate students who started coming, and they’ll help us build a better team.”

The club has grown to approximately 40 members since Mondal, a fourth-year chemistry graduate student, took over eight months ago.

Not all players have to be IU students, as Bloomington residents are welcome to join, club member Eran Chinthaka said.

The mix between Bloomington residents and IU students has led to a wealth of experience. 

“Most of the people who are playing in this club have played for at least 15-20 years,” Chinthaka said. 

That doesn’t mean inexperienced people should be discouraged, Mondal said.

“We have players from the low to high ranks,” he said. “The game’s not very hard, and we will help newcomers.” 

The game is normally played outdoors, but the club has been forced to adjust to the restrictions of the HPER gym, changing the game slightly while splitting into four teams. Though this seems a disadvantage, Mondal said the restrictions benefit new members by slowing the game down.

“If they’re outside playing a real fast cricket, it’s hard to get a hold of,” he said. “Playing inside is easier to cope with.”

The first day will feature three matches, each lasting about an hour and a half. The tournament will continue Saturday, March 6 with three more matches and will conclude Sunday, March 7 with a consolation match between the bottom two teams and a championship round between the top two.

“Usually people only come at the start of the semester, but by the end, the number decreases,” Chinthaka said. “The main thing is that we get a lot of unity and collaboration.”
— Joe Popely

WOMEN'S TENNIS
Women’s tennis looks to continue momentum against new opponent

The IU women’s team typically plays many of the same teams during their non-conference spring season, giving them past experience to draw from in preparation for the match. On Sunday against Oregon, that will not be case.

“We have never played Oregon before,” head coach Lin Loring said. “They’re kind of an unknown. I don’t know much about them. They play at Purdue on Friday do I’ll know a little more about them after that, but we have never played them before. It’s kind of fun.

The Ducks were ranked as recently as a week ago, but have fallen out of the top 75. If the No. 23 Hoosiers field the same lineup they did against Tennessee, Loring likes the team’s chances.

“I think if we have the same lineup we had last weekend, we’ll match up pretty well,” Loring said. “I’m not sure who we are going to have. We have some kids fighting cold and flu right now but if we have everyone we had last we should march up pretty well.”

To compensate for the team’s health issues, Loring has shortened practices this week and focused on specific areas for improvement to avoid a let-down after the upset of Tennessee on Sunday.

We’ve had specific things we’ve been trying to work on,” Loring said. “We still need to get better. They know that. We’ve just been concentrating in quality as far as practice goes and not quantity and just trying to be really efficient with the time we are in the court.”
— Max McCombs