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MEN'S TENNIS
Hoosiers breeze through weekend

IU men’s tennis coach Randy Bloemendaal mixed things up Saturday in home matches against Illinois State and Morehead State.

He tried some different doubles combinations — putting freshman Josh MacTaggart and junior Lachlan Ferguson at the No. 1 spot — and moved a few players around in the singles lineup.

Those new combinations helped the Hoosiers regain their momentum as they rolled to two emphatic wins, pushing their home record to 6-0 on the season.

“It’s just good experience for us, and any chance you get is an opportunity to prove yourself,” sophomore Stephen Vogl, who played at No. 6 singles for the Hoosiers against Morehead State, said. “Everybody pretty much proved themselves. Your position is not guaranteed every time you walk on the tennis court, so wins like that are really good.”

The No. 43 Hoosiers (6-3) put forth a special effort against the Redbirds and Eagles.
Every player on the roster earned a singles win on the day, including Vogl and freshman Alex van Gils, who rarely see singles action.

Junior Santiago Gruter and sophomore Jeremy Langer were flawless in singles action and earned an 8-0 win at No. 2 doubles against Morehead State.

In all, the Hoosiers won five out of six in doubles and 11 out of 12 in singles.

“We needed that,” Bloemendaal said. “Coming back from Oklahoma, I felt like we were a little bit shaken, and the only way to get back in gear is to get back out there and go through some wins.”

The 7-0 victory against Illinois State, and the manner in which it came, was especially important for the Hoosiers. The No. 66 Redbirds were fresh off a 4-3 win at Purdue and they were feeling pretty good about themselves.

“We are really pumped about that win,” Vogl said. “They had a lot of energy when they first came out, and we kind of had to take it to them right away and take that belief away from them as quick as possible.”

– Justin Albers

SOFTBALL
IU doesn’t fare well in Golden State

The young IU softball team (6-9) went 1-4 in their fourth weekend at the DeMarini Invitational in Fullerton, Calif.

IU started the weekend with a 2-0 loss to the Pacific Tigers on Friday.

Freshman infielder Breanna Saucedo went 2-3 and had the only 2 hits for the Hoosiers in the game.

Then, IU lost 7-5 to North Carolina in the second game of the day.
Junior catcher Cassie Gogreve went 1-3 with a three-run homer in the fifth inning.

Freshman outfielder Samantha Heyman went 2-4 with 2 RBI and 1 run scored.
The Hoosiers lost Saturday’s first game against UC Davis, 4-2.

Junior pitcher Sara Olson went 2-3 with 1 RBI in the game.

“Our pitching staff did a great job by throwing some big strikeouts,” sophomore infielder Samantha Berenter said.

IU won its first game of the invitational against home-field advantaged Cal State Fullerton, 4-1.

“We improved on our mentality and staying in the whole game for some of the matches this weekend,” Saucedo said.

Olson (3-4) had a complete game allowing only five hits from the opposed Titans.

To close the weekend, IU lost to No. 10 Stanford, 4-0, on Sunday.
Junior outfielder Kelsey Stander went 2-2 in the loss against the Cardinal.

This tournament helped the Hoosiers learn how to compete against some tough competition.

“Our defensive infielding definitely saw improvements this past weekend,” Berenter said.

– Aaron Siegal-Eisman

WATER POLO
IU finishes third in Elite Eight tourney

When the IU women’s water polo team was preparing for the Elite Eight tournament last week, coach Barry King said during practice the Hoosiers were working on playing a better defense.

They did it.

The No. 18 Hoosiers finished Elite Eight homecoming weekend 2-1, playing two teams on the 2010 Varsity Top 20 list.

IU played host to No. 17 Brown University in its home debut Saturday. The Hoosiers came out strong and finished the first half with a 5-1 lead.
The Hoosiers played strategic defense, limiting the Bears to long shots and only one goal in the game.

Sophomore goalkeeper Cassie Wyckoff played the full game and made 23 saves. It was her fifth game this season in which she recorded double-digit saves.

A strong take on Brown University advanced IU to the heart of the competition with No. 8 University of Michigan on Saturday.

King said several times earlier in the season that the Hoosiers were still learning how to handle the lead and keep it in the game. The Michigan game proved his concerns.
IU controlled the pace of the game in the first three quarters with a 6-4 lead, but a 3-0 run gave the Wolverines a final say to the game.

The Hoosiers let the Wolverines tie the score within three minutes in the first quarter. Failing to respond to the Michigan’s rally in the next five minutes offensively, IU lost the battle when Michigan took advantage of a five-meter penalty shot earned by a steal, allowing Michigan’s Lauren Orth to close the game with 35 seconds remaining.

“We did fight in the game.” King said after the loss. “I’m happy what we did defensively. But just like I said, we need to learn to handle the early lead and stay tense. It’s a tough loss since we did not do well down the stretch.”

Sophomore Jakie Köhli and junior Nicole Redder scored 2 goals each to led the Hoosiers, while Wyckoff had a game-high 14 saves.

In competing with Maryland for the third place, IU built an early lead and the Hoosiers did not let the win slide by this time. A 6-1 halftime lead gave the Hoosiers an enough margin to secure the victory. Junior attacker Kelsey Campbell and her younger sister Allison, who plays for Maryland, both recorded 1 goal in the game.
King said he was satisfied with how the team did overall during the games.

“We played well,” he said after the Maryland game. “Good half-court defense, didn’t allow a lot of shot attempts, and we played. Judging from our past games in the last few weeks, we definitely improved on that.”

Wyckoff said better communication led the team to better games.

“We need communication since we are a team, especially during tough situations in the game. As a goalkeeper, I can see those times when we need to answer back. We are doing pretty well, I think.”

– Kevin Wang

TRACK AND FIELD
Hoosiers punch ticket to NCAAs

Going into the Alex Wilson invitational, the Hoosiers’ distance medley relay (DMR) teams set a goal for themselves.

On Friday, they achieved it.

Both the IU men’s and women’s DMR teams knew this was their last chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 12.

Sophmore Chelsea Blanchard, who ran the mile-long leg of the women’s DMR race, said that these circumstances were a big motivator for the team.

“I was thinking about that the whole time, that’s why we’re there and that’s why we’re running,” Blanchard said. “We knew what kind of times we needed to hit and that was definitely very motivating.“

Blanchard and her teammates took this motivation and propelled themselves to a new IU record time of 11:11.02.  The time earns them a provisional qualifying mark, likely be good enough to send the team to NCAAs.

The men’s DMR team also performed at a high level at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame.  Their provisional qualifying time of 9:32.73 was the third best in IU history and should be fast enough for a spot in the NCAA Indoor Championships.  Like the women’s DMR team, this time earned the men second place at the Alex Wilson Invitational.

IU coach Ron Helmer was glad to see his teams place high, but admits it was not without some difficulty.

“It wasn’t as easy as we hoped it might have been,” Helmer said. “That’s the kind of effort, determination and composure that we need to get us over the top and makes sure we’re on the right side of the results.”

In addition to the DMR teams, senior Sarah Pease improved her personal time in the 5K with a provisional qualifying run of 16:19.44.   Fellow runner, senior Wendi Robinson, recorded a second place time of 9:27.95 in the 3,000 to earn a provisional qualifying mark.

The IU track and field team will prepare this week for the NCAA Indoor Championships beginning this Friday in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

– Avi Zaleon

WOMEN’S TENNIS
Injured IU women’s tennis team falls to top-ranked opponents

When IU upset Tennessee several weeks ago, just about everything went right. The team was as healthy as they had been all season, were fresh off a quality win against Kentucky and got some early momentum by winning the doubles point.
No such luck on Sunday.

The No. 30 Hoosiers lost 7-0 to the No. 1 Northwestern on Sunday in the Big Ten opener for IU.

“They’re just tough,” IU coach Lin Loring said. “They continually put pressure on you and they just don’t give you any freebies. You’ve got to earn every point. If you just let up a little bit, they’re on top of you.”

The doubles pair of senior captain Lindsey Stuckey and sophomore Evgeniya Vertesheva — ranked 24th in the country — won 8-3 in their No. 2 doubles spot. The Wildcats responded by taking the No. 3 match by the same score. Northwestern’s No. 1 pair prevailed 8-6 in the decisive doubles match, overcoming a 6-4 IU lead. The Hoosiers would go on to lose all six singles matches in straight sets.

The loss on Sunday was preceded by a Friday defeat against No. 3 Notre Dame. In both matches, IU was without injured junior Katya Zapadalova, who normally plays No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles. She is expected to miss the next three to four weeks.

“She’s out for a while,” Loring said. “We just have to do what we can. We know we’re not as strong, obviously. She was playing well and she was starting to win at one doubles and three singles. That’s going to really hurt for a while.”

With Zapadalova out, the Hoosiers lineup changes drastically. The bottom three players will each move up a slot, and junior Maria Guerreiro enters the line up at the No. 6 singles position.

“It’s an opportunity to move up the lineup and play better people,” Loring said. “Even though we’re going to take some losses because of it, hopefully, at the end of the season we’ll be a better team because of it.”

– Max McCombs