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WOMEN'S TENNIS
IU upends No. 42 Purdue

Nearly three quarters into the season is rarely the time to make sweeping lineup changes, but IU coach Lin Loring did just that. In Saturday’s match with rival Purdue, in an effort to take the pressure off the team and show the opponent something they did not see coming, the Hoosiers debuted three new doubles pairs.

The change paid off, as IU took two of three doubles matches against a Boilermaker squad that had dropped the doubles point only once to that point en route to a 6-1 victory.

“We decided to do that Friday at about 3 o’clock,” Loring said. “They made me look like I’m a really smart coach. I’ve got to thank the team for that one. It took the pressure off them. I told the team before the match, ‘If we lose the doubles point, it’s my fault,” so they could just go out and play and have fun and blame me if we lost. I’m really not that smart, but it made me look good.”

The win in the doubles set the tone for a lopsided victory against the favored Boilermakers. Purdue was 13-1 and ranked No. 42 entering the match. IU (12-5) is ranked No. 44 but should rise after the win.

“After the last couple weeks, we really needed this,” Loring said. “This is just a huge win for us. That’s right up there with our wins over Tennessee and Kentucky as far as our big wins. We’re slowly starting to get back to where we were playing before the injuries hit us. I can’t say enough about how we competed today. It was just a really, really good win.”

The match was expected to be played outdoors, but morning rain forced it indoors.
“We hadn’t played inside in a week, but this is our home court,” Loring said. “Who knows if it was to our advantage? I don’t know. Both teams have been practicing outside. I’m not going to over-think it. We won.”

— Max McCombs

WATER POLO
Hoosiers drop season finale to Michigan

Sophomore Jakie Köhli, the team’s leading scorer at 2.84 goals per game, netted her only goal with 3:31 remaining in the final period of IU women’s water polo team’s second season match up against University of Michigan.
It wasn’t enough, however.

In the battle for the Collegiate Water Polo Association West Division title, the Hoosiers battled with great efforts but failed to prevent the Wolverines from winning their third-straight regular season division championship, 6-4.

The Wolverines had six steals in the opening period, holding the Hoosiers scoreless until sophomore defender Hanna Eimstad scored a long pump-fake shot in the second period.

Both teams shared a scoreless third period by trading powerful defensive plays.
Michigan’s Lauren Orth scored her third shot attempt at the penalty line with three minutes left in the game, and IU never got a chance to extend its threat. Senior attacker Kelly Palmberg’s goal in the last two seconds did not hurt the result of the highly defensive game. Michigan improved to 27-6-1 all-time against IU.

— Kevin Wang

SOFTBALL
Hoosiers begin conference season on wrong foot

Unable to stop the offensive firepower of Iowa, IU droped two games in their first Big Ten weekend.

“This weekend was a good learning experience for the team,” sophomore infielder Samantha Berenter said.

The Hawkeyes (18-13-1, 4-0) scored 17 runs in the two games to the Hoosiers (7-21, 0-2) two.

On a positive note, the Hoosiers only gave up one error in the two games.

“Letting one or zero errors was something we’ve been working on,” Berenter said.
In the first game on Saturday, IU lost to the Hawkeyes 5-1.

The Hawkeyes had 11 hits compared to IU’s five hits.

Junior shortstop Chelsey Carmody hit one for three with 3 RBI’s.

Freshman pitcher Jessica Dobson pitched 3.1 innings, did not give up a run and had two strikeouts as she came in for senior pitcher Monica Wright in the third inning.
In the second game on Sunday, the Hoosiers lost 12-1 in five innings of play.

The game was ended in five innings because of the 11 run advantage in the game.
Junior catcher Sara Spiering hit one for three with three RBIs in the game.

Senior outfielder Jennifer Glueckert went three for five on the weekend and improved her batting average, which is leading the team to .347.

The competition doesn’t get any easier when the Hoosiers face the No. 3 Michigan Wolverines for a double-header on Wednesday.

“We have moments of good things happening, which we need to do more of next week,” Berenter said.

- Aaron Siegal-Eisman

ROWING

IU grabs Dale England Cup for 1st victory

Gaining confidence in strides, the IU rowing team continued to build on its season with a first-place finish at the second annual Dale England Cup this weekend at Lake Lemon. It was the Hoosiers’ first overall victory of the season.

“It was one of the first times we got out of the water, and we’re really pleased with how it came out,” sophomore Alex Burkle said. “We were definitely comfortable with our surroundings, but if we were anywhere else I feel like we would’ve pulled off the same thing.”

IU got off to a quick start with the weather holding Friday, finishing the day with 40 points. The Hoosiers followed their first performance with an equally impressive second day to bring their point total to 101, despite early showers and wind affecting the course.

“Everybody was really excited with the way we performed as a team,” senior Emily Kasavana said. “We’ve had one of the best starts since I’ve been here, and we have a lot to call upon for confidence.”

That confidence comes at an integral part of the season, as the Hoosiers are set to face their toughest competition thus far with Big Ten powerhouses No. 7 Michigan, No. 9 Michigan State and No. 10 Ohio State slated to make trips to Lake Lemon next weekend.

“We are confident and feeling good but not necessarily done with our work,” Kasavana said. ”It’s right back to working on the things we need to work on, as each boat has a game plan to get faster. Going against top-10 competition this weekend is really exciting. We get to go out there and prove something to ourselves.”

— Kyle Abrell

MEN'S GOLF
Hoosiers breeze through home tourney

Heading into this past weekend’s adidas Hoosier Invitational, IU coach Mike Mayer said he did not want to just win his team’s home tournament, he wanted to be dominant.

To say the Hoosiers were dominant in their 36-shot victory might have been an understatement, as they had their top five players finish in the top seven individually.

“This is our home golf course, and we felt like that we could take control of this tournament from the opening shot to the last shot, and that was our game plan,” Mayer said.

The Hoosiers defended their title from last year and were led by sophomore Chase Wright, who won his first collegiate tournament by seven shots.

Wright was 4-0 at the Collegiate Match Play Championship two weeks ago and continued his stellar play with a nine-under par total of 204 for the three rounds.
Finishing runner-up to Wright was fellow sophomore David Erdy, who closed the tournament with rounds of 68 and 70.

Beringer followed up a fourth-place finish at last weekend’s BSU Cardinal Collegiate with a third-place finish this weekend.

Finishing one stroke behind Beringer was Peaper with a 215 total, and he was followed by senior Alex Martin in seventh place.

The 838 team total from the Hoosiers is the third-lowest in school history, and it’s even more impressive considering their No. 1 player, Martin, finished fifth on his own team.
“When our No. 3 man wins a tournament by seven shots, and our No. 5 man finishes third, that just gives us more firepower down the stretch,” Mayer said.

The next tournament on the Hoosiers’ schedule will be the Crooked Stick Invitational on April 19th in Indianapolis.

“We expected to win, and I think we have great momentum heading into Crooked Stick, which is a very nice field,” Mayer said.

— Kevin Bowen