IU defeats Wisconsin, advances in Big Ten Tournament

The No.7-seed Hoosiers avenged arguably their worst loss of the season by beating No. 10-seed Wisconsin in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament 4-0.

The Hoosiers started strong by nabbing the doubles point to begin play Thursday, something they failed to do in the April 15 match against Wisconsin.

The doubles lineups were drastically altered in the cream and crimson’s last match against Northwestern, and IU Coach Lin Loring kept the new doubles lineups intact for their first-round matchup against the Badgers.

“We haven’t been winning the doubles point in big matches, with the exception of Ohio State,” Loring said. “We just thought, what the heck, better late than never, we’ll try some new combinations, and they played good today.”

In the three slot, senior Evgeniya Vertesheva and freshman Shannon Murdy made quick work of their foes, setting the tone for the match with an 8-1 win.

The one slot saw a Hoosier victory and secured the first point of the match for IU. Junior Leslie Hureau and sophomore Sophie Garre won a tight match 8-6.

Sophomore Kayla Fujimoto and freshman Katie Klyczek were deadlocked in their match, but it ended before a winner was declared because the doubles point was already decided. The match was at 8-8 when play was called off.

The first match of singles was a rematch with Hureau against Wisconsin’s Alaina Trgovich. In the April 15 match, Hureau lost in three sets. She avenged her loss by dominating 6-0, 6-0.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first set, freshman Alecia Kauss secured the third team point for IU by winning 6-4, 6-2.

Wrapping up the match for Indiana was Klyczek, also winning in straight sets 6-1, 7-5.
The win for Indiana snaps their season-long five-game losing streak and gives them a precious Big Ten tournament win.

Loring said he thinks not having to play in Madison was an advantage for his Hoosiers.

“Home court is always a big advantage in tennis because each tennis court plays differently,” Loring said. “Wisconsin was really the only bad match we played this year, so I think the girls felt like they had something to prove, and they did it today.”

Indiana advances to the second round of the Big Ten Tournament to play No. 2-seed Michigan, who had a bye in the first round. Play begins today at 2 p.m.

Michigan, ranked No. 15 in the nation, narrowly escaped Bloomington with a victory as the Wolverines won 4-3 back on April 1.

The match featured three Hoosiers pulling off upsets against nationally ranked competition. Most notably, Hureau took down the then-No. 10 player in the country, Emina Bektas.

Loring said trying to have success against Michigan for a second time this season will be a tall task.

“I think we snuck up on them the first time, and I don’t think they realized we were pretty good,” Loring said. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to sneak up on them this time, so we just have to play really, really well.”