Sunday, 01/24/2010

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indian University women's tennis team (2-0) began their 2010 spring season by giving Head Coach Lin Loring the 734th and 735th coaching victories of his career, sweeping Sunday's doubleheader. Indiana's first match of the day against Western Michigan was the 1,000th match of Coach Loring's career.

The Hoosiers opened the dual-match season with a 5-2 win over the Broncos, followed by a 7-0 sweep of the Butler Bulldogs. IU split the doubles points while taking 11 of 12 singles contests overall. Senior captain Lindsey Stuckey and sophomore Evgeniya Vertesheva had unbeaten days, going 4-0 with two wins on the singles and doubles courts each.

Western Michigan grabbed the early 1-0 lead, taking the doubles point when their No. 2 team sneaked by the Hoosiers in a tiebreaker to clinch the doubles point. Indiana responded well, however, in singles play. Positions one thru five each posted W's for IU.

"Western Michigan always plays great doubles," said Coach Loring. "They took the doubles point off of us last year too. I was pleased with the way we came back and focused on the singles. There were three close singles matches and we won all three. That was the difference in the match."

Indiana's second match of the day was a bit less dramatic as the Cream and Crimson won by a 7-0 tally. After sweeping the doubles action, all six Hoosiers won their singles matches in straight sets to secure the team's second win of the day.

"Butler's top two doubles team hit as hard as anyone we will play this year," said Coach Loring. "It was great practice for us. Plus our legs were tired from the morning match. Although the score might look one-sided, it was really good early season preparation for us."

The Hoosiers, ranked 46th nationally in the preseason poll, get back at it on Saturday, Jan. 23 with a road doubleheader. Indiana will begin the weekend taking on Miami (OH) at 9:30 a.m. before also competing against another Mid-American Conference foe, Ball State, in a 6 p.m. showdown.