Hoosiers drop pair of matches during weekend

“It was just one of those weekends where if something could go wrong, it did,” IU Coach Lin Loring said.

Indiana suffered two crippling losses this weekend, with the Hoosiers being outscored by a total of 12-2 against two teams that were below them in the Big Ten standings before the weekend.

Loring said the Hoosiers had hoped to play both matches outdoors but that inclement weather prohibited doing so.

“These were both really good indoor teams that we wanted to play outdoors,” Loring said. “But for both of these matches, we had to play indoors, so that was a bad thing because I think we’re definitely a better outdoors team.”

The No. 47 Hoosiers began the weekend by squaring off against No. 31 Minnesota. The Gophers blanked IU, winning 7-0.

The No. 45 ranked tandem of Natallia Pintusava and Magdalena Wiecha bested Indiana’s duo of sophomore Sophie Garre and freshman Katie Klyczek 8-4.

Junior Leslie Hureau and freshman Shannon Murdy then responded by taking their match 8-6, but with the doubles point up for grabs, a tightly contested match went Minnesota’s way as senior Evgeniya Vertesheva and sophomore Kayla Fujimoto fell 9-7.

Minnesota proceeded to defeat IU in the singles matches, winning every match but one in straight sets.

Klyczek was the first Hoosier to fall, losing 6-2, 6-2 in the three slot. Fujimoto followed by falling 6-4, 6-4.

When freshman Alecia Kauss lost her first singles match since March 25 by the score of 6-3, 6-3, it marked the loss for Indiana.

Murdy then lost 6-0, 7-6 and No. 124 Alexa Palen took out Vertesheva 6-2, 6-4. The lone Hoosier to push a match to three sets was No. 65 Hureau at the one position, in which she was defeated 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

This was the first time this season that IU failed to score at least a single team point.

“I thought we competed really hard against Minnesota,” Loring said. “They have very, very fast indoor courts, and we came back in a lot of second sets and made matches out of them, but their style of play was really tough for us on the fast-paced courts.”

After a disappointing day in Minneapolis, the Hoosiers tried to pick up a win against Big Ten cellar-dweller Wisconsin, but they fell 5-2.

In doubles, Garre and Klyczek fell 8-5, while Vertesheva and Fujimoto were victorious 8-6. Hureau and Murdy lost the match and secured the point for the home team, losing 8-6.

In singles action, the Hoosiers picked up two quick victories, with Vertesheva and Murdy winning their matches 6-2, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-4, respectively.

Those were the last points IU would be awarded the rest of the day. After Fujimoto lost 7-5, 6-4, the remaining three matches would all go down to three sets and Badger wins.

Hureau lost her three-set battle 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, and then Klyczek lost her match 6-0, 4-6, 6-3. The Wisconsin win cemented the third-straight loss for IU.

Kauss lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final match of the weekend.

“Wisconsin’s a match we should have won,” Loring said. “We lost three three-setters and should have won the doubles point, but like I said, if something could go wrong, it did.”