Hoosiers defend home court against Huskers, Hawkeyes

The No. 45 Hoosiers welcome two more ranked Big Ten schools to Bloomington this weekend.

On Saturday, the team will face off against No. 72 Iowa, and Sunday the cream and crimson will do battle with No. 17 Nebraska. Both matches start at 11 a.m. at the IU Tennis Center.

The Hawkeyes (7-9, 1-4) jumped into the rankings this week after beating Penn State and narrowly losing to Ohio State this past weekend.

Iowa has been struggling as of late, going just 2-6 in its past eight matches. The black and gold also look to amend their road woes, as they are 1-6 in away matches.
No. 115 Sonja Molnar is Iowa’s lone ranked singles player, and Iowa has no ranked doubles tandems.

IU will face its second top-20 team in three matches when it welcomes the Big Ten’s newest member, Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers (18-2, 4-1) boast the Big Ten’s best winning percentage and rank only behind undefeated Michigan in the Big Ten standings.

Nebraska has three ranked singles players in No. 40 Mary Weatherholt, No. 109 Janine Weinreich and No. 117 Patricia Veresova.

They also feature the No. 40 doubles duo of Madeleine Geibert and Stefanie Weinstein.

Most likely squaring off against Weatherholt will be junior Leslie Hureau. Hureau, the newly appointed Big Ten Player of the Week, will try to knock off her third player ranked in the top 60 in Big Ten play.

The recent success can be accounted for in part by the addition of Hureau’s new doubles partner, freshman Shannon Murdy, into the doubles lineup.

Murdy has gone 3-0 in her past four matches, as she and Hureau were up 6-5 on a Michigan tandem when the match was called early.

Murdy was understandably excited when IU Coach Lin Loring gave her the nod.

“I was really excited because I was glad I was finally able to contribute our team winning matches,” Murdy said. “And I was also a little bit nervous because I hoped I could do well so Coach would keep me in the lineup.”

The Kelley School of Business was a key reason why Murdy elected to spend her collegiate days in Bloomington.

“The business school is top 10 in the country here,” Murdy said. “And I knew I wanted to major in accounting, so that was a deciding factor. Also, I love the coaches and the team here, so it just seemed like the overall perfect fit for me.”

Murdy, a Georgia native, said she appreciates the cooler weather and the chance to play indoors for a change.

“I like the weather here a lot more than Georgia,” Murdy said. “Georgia at this time is really hot, and I like playing indoors, too. I never really got to play indoors that much because Atlanta doesn’t really have any indoor courts.”

Ironically, it was here in Indiana that Murdy started to grow a passion for peaches, and now she looks forward to going home and enjoying the fresh fruit of her state.

“When I go back for the summer, I’m definitely going to eat some more Georgia peaches,” Murdy said with a chuckle.