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BASEBALL
Hoosiers take one of three games in weekend series

Returning back to the Big Ten/Big East Challenge this weekend, the Hoosier team was only able to pull off one win as it fell to 2-5 on the young season.

In game one, the Hoosiers rallied against West Virginia (1-5) after being down 6-1 in the third inning to score nine unanswered runs, forcing Mountaineer pitcher Jarryd Summers out of the game after five innings.

Despite giving up four runs before recording an out in the first inning, starting sophomore Drew Leininger held his composure, retiring 10 of 11 batters at one point.
Junior Jerrud Sabourin led the charge offensively for the Hoosiers, going 4-5 with two runs and three RBIs. Co-captain junior Brian Lambert was the game’s catalyst, going 2-4 with three runs scored and drawing a walk while filling the leadoff spot.

Closer senior Chris Squires made things interesting in the ninth, giving up three hits and two runs before recording an out. He would eventually settle down, striking out the next two and getting the final hitter to ground out to preserve the Hoosiers’ 10-8 win.
After a rain delay Saturday, Villanova (5-1) southpaw Kyle Helisek shut down the Hoosier lineup, tossing seven solid innings to pick up the 8-1 win against IU.

Freshman Walker Stadler pitched well coming off his debut win in San Diego last weekend, but he would go down with the loss. He pitched 5 and 2/3 innings and only giving up six hits and three runs.

Sabourin recorded the lone Hoosier RBI, going 2-3 with a walk.

On Sunday, Connecticut (2-1) scored five runs in the first inning off sophomore Matt Igel (0-2) and was able to stave off a late Hoosiers rally to win 9-5.

The bullpen trio of freshman Johnny Hoffman and sophomores Matt Ernest and Ethan Wilson combined to pitch seven innings, giving up no earned runs in relief.

IU will return to action at 3 p.m. Tuesday against Indiana State.
— Pat Hickey

MEN'S SWIM AND DIVE
IU places fifth in Big Tens

The IU men’s swimming and diving team was supposed to finish near the bottom at the Big Ten Championships. But the Hoosiers weren’t willing to settle, finishing fifth.

After a tough season plagued by medical hardships and redshirts, IU coach Ray Looze was ecstatic with his team’s performance in Columbus, Ohio.

“I could not have felt more thrilled,” Looze said. “With half of our potential points sitting at home they maxed out their abilities. I’m so proud with how hard they fought.”

IU came together at the right time. The team had numerous career bests, NCAA A and B cuts, season bests and one school record from senior Aaron Opell. Opell swam the 200 breaststroke in 1:54.00, good for the Big Ten title.

In the last regular-season meet, Opell swam the 200 breaststroke in 2:08.54. The last day of Big Ten competition, Opell was in the finals, one whole body length behind the leader with 50 yards remaining. Opell touched the wall first for a NCAA A cut and school record of 1:54.00, a time Looze called “unheard of.”

Opell described his win as a feeling of pure elation.

“I saw the time and saw the entire team and how excited they were, it really got to me,” he said. “It’s one thing to do it for myself, but its so much more to do it for the team.”

Opell’s performance was one of those moments few in the Big Ten thought they would see.

“No one really expected anything out of us,” junior Doug Spraul said.

Spraul made his first Big Ten final in the 200 breaststroke, finishing fourth.

“We know we train harder than everyone else, so we knew we were going to finish races like we did,” Spraul said.

Although IU knew the realities of the meet going in, the Hoosiers refused to hand titles to its competitors. The team turned its season around at the most important time.

“I had coaches come up to me and tell me, ‘We thought we had you guys this year because you were down,’” Looze said. “When the competitor recognizes that, you know you have done a good job.”
— Caitlin Ursini

MEN'S TENNIS
Hoosiers falter against Tulsa and Oklahoma

The IU men’s tennis team was at a crossroads heading into this weekend’s matches at Tulsa and Oklahoma.

The Hoosiers’ 4-1 record had the team into the top 50 of the national rankings and two wins — or even one — would have proven it is for real.

But after the final singles match ended Sunday and the Hoosiers were left with two losses, the situation suddenly looked very glum for the team.

IU, which dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 33 Tulsa on Friday and lost 6-1 against No. 26 Oklahoma on Sunday, is now a mediocre 4-3 on the season. Even more disappointing is the fact that the Hoosiers are 0-3 in true road matches. In those three duels, IU dropped all nine doubles matches and won only three of 15 singles matches.

The one exception to the Hoosiers’ road struggles has been junior Lachlan Ferguson. Ferguson is undefeated in singles play on the season including two wins against Tulsa and Oklahoma this weekend. He knocked off the Hurricane’s Marko Ballak 6-4, 6-2 and the Sooners’ David Pultr 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, both matches at No. 4 singles.

Other than Ferguson, however, it has been a struggle for IU away from Bloomington. The Hoosiers have been dominant at home, but with a young team consisting of two freshmen regularly in the lineup, they can’t figure out how to put the same performance together on the road.

The only other player to win a road match this season was freshman Isade Juneau, who beat Tulsa’s Patrick Collins 6-2, 6-4 Friday.

The Hoosiers are back in action Saturday when they host Illinois State and Morehead State.  

— Justin Albers

IU SOFTBALL
Hoosiers win three of four at Southern Mississippi Invitational

Good offensive play and solid pitching propelled the Hoosiers to three wins at the Southern Mississippi Invitational.

On Saturday, IU beat Jackson State 8-0 in five innings.

Freshman infielder Breanna Saucedo went 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI .

“We scored early and took control of the lead in the games this weekend,” IU coach Michelle Gardner said.

Freshman pitcher Jessica Dobson had a complete game with six strikeouts and only one hit from the Tigers.

“We had a tough game against Southern Miss, but we kept pushing and made them play defense,” junior catcher Cassie Gogreve said.

In the next game, the Hoosiers fell 5-4 to Southern Mississippi.

Senior outfielder Jennifer Gluekert hit 2-for-3 in the loss.

In the top of the seventh inning, the Hoosiers rallied back to score two runs, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Golden Eagles.

“We learned this weekend that we can win some ball games. We kept battling in the Southern Miss game, even though we lost that one,” Gardner said.

The Hoosiers won the next two games on Sunday against Central Arkansas and Belmont 5-1 and 9-0, respectively.

“I think we learned a lot and got better throughout the weekend,” senior pitcher Monica Wright said.

Sophomore infielder Samantha Berenter went 1-for-3 with two RBI’s and a run in the Central Arkansas win.

Gogreve hit 2-for-3 with three RBI’s and one run.

Wright improved to 2-1 on the season with four strikeouts in the Belmont win.

The team saw improvements in the offense and defense this weekend.

“I saw good clean defense, solid hitting every inning, and we took care of the ball,” Gogreve said.  

IU will face tough competition next weekend in California against Pacific, North Carolina, UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton and Stanford.

“I think if we play together as a team we can achieve wins and see positive improvements from the games,” Wright said.

— Aaron Siegal-Eisman

WOMEN'S TENNIS
Hoosiers skate past Ducks

A fast court and two teams that could not have been more different made the first-ever match between IU and Oregon a memorable one.

The Hoosiers took the doubles point thanks to a close 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles by juniors Katya Zapadalova and Myriam Sopel. The teams then split the six singles matches, giving IU a 4-3 victory to go 10-2 on the season.

“That’s what college matches are supposed to be like,” IU coach Lin Loring said. “When the doubles point comes down to the last match and it’s 8-6, that’s as exciting as it can get. And then there’s four three-setters in singles. Two were really close. Charlotte had to win a tiebreaker to keep one going. Obviously the teams were evenly matched.”

IU was heavily favored on paper — The Hoosiers are ranked No. 23 while Oregon had dropped out of the team rankings. However, the Ducks’ powerful playing-style was an ideal fit for the fast courts at the IU Tennis Center.

“They’re a really hard-hitting team. They just overpowered us at some places and our kids did a really good job of hanging in,” Loring said. “That’s a team you want to play outdoors with a 15 MPH wind. That’s not a team you want to play indoors because they just hit the ball big.”

The Hoosiers fought illness all week leading up to the match. They were able to field the same lineup as last week in their upset over Tennessee, but players were not all at full-strength.

“The game ball goes to Katya, because she’s been out sick all week,” Loring said. “She warmed up for about 20 minutes and said she’d give it a try and won the deciding doubles point and her singles point. I give Katya a lot of credit. She was probably 75 percent today and won both her matches.”

— Max McCombs

IU WOMEN'S GOLF
IU sets sights on postseason at UCF Challenge

For each of the past three seasons, the women’s golf NCAA National Champion has played in the University of Central Florida Challenge in the regular season.

IU coach Clint Wallman said he hopes the 2010 UCF Challenge is no different and the Hoosiers can be the lucky team.

“It is getting us ready to play top-level competition, and that is what it is going to take to get into the postseason,” he said.

This is the first time the Hoosiers have played in the challenge, which has a field consisting of mostly southern teams.

Of the 17 teams competing over the next two days in Orlando, Fla., 16 are ranked in the nation’s top 100.

This marks the second consecutive tournament for the Hoosiers in which the field includes more than a dozen ranked teams.

“Every team is good competition and good practice for our conference, because the Big Ten is such a strong conference,” senior Laura Nochta said.

The Hoosiers will send two seniors, Nochta and Kellye Belcher; and three freshmen, Pamela Burneski, Kate Coons and Jacqueline Yanch.

All five women playing this week also made up the lineup at the Onion Creek Challenge in November. The Hoosiers finished fifth that week, the team’s second-best finish of the year, and shot a season-low 283 in the final round.

Since finishing 14th at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic three weeks ago, Wallman said the Hoosiers have been working on swings and putts inside 10 feet on its indoor putting green.

Wallman also said IU football coach Bill Lynch talked to the players last week about trying “to play one play at a time” or, in golf terms, “one shot at a time.”

Even though the Hoosiers have four more tournaments on the schedule before NCAA play, this week provides a great opportunity for résumé-building wins.

“You have to get wins against quality opponents, and if you don’t get wins against quality opponents, you might not be playing in the postseason,” Wallman said.

— Kevin Bowen

TRACK
Hoosiers excel at Big Ten indoor Championships

Although the IU team scores at the Big Ten Indoor Championships did not exceed expectations, some individual performances did.

The men’s team, who competed at the University of Minnesota, finished sixth overall in the point total.  While the women’s team finished in third place at the championships in Penn State University.

IU coach Ron Helmer explained that although he was not “satisfied” with him team’s results, he sees the potential in the group.

“We’ll continue to get better,” Helmer said.  “Sometimes that process just doesn’t happen as fast as you would like.”

Despite mediocre team scores, IU got top numbers from some of its top athletes.
Sophomore Derek Drouin beat out the competition, clearing 7.5 feet in the high jump to set a new IU school record.

“That’s my last meet going into nationals,” Drouin said. “I didn’t really think it could have gone much better.”

On the women’s side, three IU athletes won their respective events.

Junior Faith Sherrill recorded a throw of 20.35 meters to capture the title in the women’s shot put.  While senior Ashley Rhodes won the high jump after clearing 6 feet. Her teammate, senior Molly Beckwith, ran the 600 meter run in 1:27.22 to set a new Big Ten record.

“A girl ran 1:29, so I knew I needed to kick it into another gear,” Beckwith said.  “I was motivated by her, I knew I needed to go out there, do my thing, and run really fast.”

— Avi Zaleon