IU splits matches against Notre Dame, Kentucky

This past weekend, the No. 74 Hoosiers took on No. 23 Notre Dame and Kentucky.
The action started Friday when IU went to South Bend to take on the Fighting Irish.

The Irish overwhelmed the Hoosiers and took the match 6-1.

Senior Evgeniya Vertesheva and sophomore Kayla Fujimoto were shut out 8-0 in the first doubles match.

The Irish secured the doubles point with an 8-5 win against sophomore Sophie Garre and freshman Katie Klyczek. The No. 3 doubles duo in the nation, Kristy Frilling and Shannon Mathews, defeated the Hoosier tandem.

Klyczek and freshman Carolyn Chupa had been doubles partners for most of the season until this match.

“Sophie’s been playing really well in practice,” IU Coach Lin Loring said. “Carolyn has not been playing well in practice in doubles, and she’s had some injury problems, so we figured, why not give Sophie a chance?”

During the final doubles match of the day, junior Leslie Hureau and freshman Alecia Kauss lost 8-6.

The Irish dominance against the Hoosiers was similar when the singles started.

IU was winless in the 1-5 spots as Hureau, Vertesheva, Klyczek, Kauss and Chupa were all defeated by the blue and gold.

The lone singles victory came from the No. 6 slot, as Fujimoto defeated her opponent after losing the first set 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-3).

Fujimoto is now 4-0 in singles against nationally ranked opponents.

Despite the lopsided score, Loring was proud of his team’s progress in the singles matches.

“Today was one of our better singles matches, top-to-bottom,” Loring said. “We had chances on every court. Hopefully, we can keep playing at this level.”

On Sunday, the Hoosiers looked to avenge their third loss this season against Notre Dame by taking on Kentucky.

They defeated the Wildcats 5-2.

The Hoosiers took the doubles point to open the match. Vertesheva and Fujimoto rebounded from their loss at the hands of the Irish by winning 8-3 to set the tone for the rest of the day.

Hureau and Kauss shared a celebratory high-five as they secured the doubles point for the Hoosiers, defeating their opponents 8-6.

In the last doubles match, Klyczek and Garre lost in a back-and-forth match 8-7 (7-4).

The match had no outcome on the final score of the contest, as the Hoosiers had already taken two of the three doubles matches.

Hureau took the win in the No. 1 slot 6-3, 6-3. Fujimoto followed by vanquishing her opponent 6-2, 6-2.

Klyczek’s 6-4, 6-3 victory secured the match for the Hoosiers, improving their record to 9-3 on the young season.

After losing a closely contested first set, Chupa stormed back to capture the second set and went on to win the match in a tiebreak 6-7, 6-1 (14-12).

Kauss was defeated in straight sets, and Vertesheva lost in three sets.

“This was a good team match because we were competitive at every position,” Loring said. “The doubles match we lost was a tiebreaker. In singles, we lost one in three sets, and another one was a tiebreaker, so I’m pleased because we were really competitive at every position.”