IU Women's Tennis

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IU hoping to give a backhand smash to the #24 little Leprechauns of Notre Dame tomorrow at 3:30 in South Bend.  Good luck!

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,954]

LORING INDUCTED INTO ITA WOMEN’S COLLEGIATE TENNIS HALL OF FAME

As the only Division I women’s tennis coach in history with more than 800 wins, it was probably just a matter of time before Indiana legend Lin Loring was elected to his sport’s hall of fame.

But as Loring reflected on the arrival of that honor — named Tuesday to the 2021 Class of the ITA’s Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame — he was reminded of a story from his illustrious career. It’s from Win No. 800, when all he was concerned about was how poorly his team was performing at Western Michigan.

“We go out in doubles and we just stink and I can’t figure out why we are stinking,” Loring said. “I have no idea but the girls know they have a cake back at the hotel saying ‘Congratulations on 800’ and they have this personalized bag of M&Ms with my picture on one side and ‘800’ on the other. They are nervous about not winning and having this celebration in the hotel lobby go south.

“I never paid attention to those kinds of things. But when they happen, it’s really nice.”

This time around, the retired coach was landscaping his yard when news of his selection broke. “It’s taken me five hours to get 20 minutes of work done,” Loring said of all the calls and texts he’s received. “But it’s nice.”

Loring wasn’t much concerned about his win total as it piled up coaching. He wasn’t anxiously awaiting a hall of fame nod, either. But it’s still an honor.

“It’s a special award because it’s from your peers that you’ve coached against for many, many years,” Loring said. “It’s a nice tribute to all the wonderful young ladies I coached in 44 years of college coaching.”

Loring developed quite the resume at IU. Of his 846 career wins, 804 came with the Hoosiers. His athletes won 16 Big Ten titles and made 28 national tournament appearances, including an AIAW national title in 1982.

While at IU, he mentored 25 All-Americans.

The other inductees in this ITA class are athletes Loring coached against, including Southern California’s AnnaMaria Fernandez-Ruffels and Georgia’s Lisa Spain Short. The third, Northwestern great Diane Donnelly Stone, was a player Loring recruited.

“She won two Big Ten championships in the ‘80s with Northwestern. We won the other eight in the 80s,” Loring said. “We were always playing against them in the finals … Indiana-Northwestern, it was a good rivalry. She’s just the sweetest girl around. For someone who didn’t play for me, I knew her pretty well. We stayed friends.”

“I always gave her dad a little grief when I saw him,” Loring added. “You don’t get them all.”

Of course, the hope is that the COVID-19 pandemic will subside and the actual ITA induction ceremony will go off without a hitch on Sept. 18, 2021.

Despite the pandemic, the last few weeks have been good to the former IU tennis coach. Loring was recently married in a quick courthouse ceremony.

The bride and groom each wore a mask.

“Considering what a crazy time it’s been,” Loring said, “I did have two very nice things happen in the last month.”

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Women’s Tennis Set for Illinois Invitational

• LIVE VIDEO/LIVE SCORING

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.– The Indiana women's tennis team will travel to Illinois for the Illinois Invitational, Feb. 5-6.
 
The Schedule
Friday 2/5 at 1:00 p.m.
Indiana vs. Illinois
Champaign, Ill.
 
Saturday 2/6 at 12:00 p.m.
Indiana vs. Purdue
Champaign, Ill.
 
Live Stats/Live Stream Link
 
No team scores will be recorded for this event. It will only count towards individual singles and doubles records. Each match will start with two rounds of doubles, back-to-back. Doubles will be followed by one round of singles.
 
The Hoosiers open the 2021 season next week on the road at Penn State (Feb. 12) and at Ohio State (Feb. 14). Their first home match is Saturday Feb. 20 vs. Michigan.
 
Indiana returns eight players from the 2019-20 team and adds three freshmen to the roster this season.

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Women’s Tennis Set to Travel to Iowa, Nebraska

Story Links

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.– The Indiana women's tennis team goes back on the road this week for matches at Iowa and Nebraska.
 
The Schedule
Friday Feb. 26 at 4:00 p.m. ET
Indiana at Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Live Scoring
Live Video
 
Sunday Feb. 28 at 11:30 a.m. ET
Indiana at Nebraska
Lincoln, Neb.
Live Scoring
Live Video
 
Attendance: Attendance at this point will be limited to family members of the student-athletes.
 
Last Time Out
Last time out the Hoosiers were defeated by Michigan 6-1, but came back for a dramatic 4-3 win over Michigan State the next day. Senior Annabelle Andrinopoulos clinched the match victory for the Hoosiers.
 
The 2021 Season
Sophomore Alexandra Staiculescu is 2-2 at singles for the Hoosiers this season. Staiculescu has partnered with Michelle McKamey in doubles and the duo have won two of their three matches this season.  
 
The Opponents
Iowa has posted a record of 3-3 on the season including wins against Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Nebraska has won three of its four matches this season with wins against Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The only loss for Nebraska was a 4-3 match against No. 8 Northwestern.
 
2020 in Review
The Hoosiers played 17 matches before the season was cut short and finished with an overall record of 10-7 and 1-1 mark in Big Ten matches. The Hoosiers one Big Ten win came at home against Penn State by a score of 4-1.
Roster
Indiana returns everyone from their 2019-20 roster. This year's team features four seniors in Caitlin Bernard, Annabelle Andrinopoulos, Michelle McKamey and Jelly Bozovic. The Hoosiers added three freshmen: Sayda Hernandez (Hilton Head, S.C.), Laura Masic (Dakovo, Croatia), and Jacqueline Stasny (Woodbridge, Ill.).
 
2019-20 Stats
Michelle McKamey led the Hoosiers with a record in singles of 16-7 in the 2019-20 season. McKamey ended the season winning her last eight matches. Then freshman Alexandra Staiculescu went 13-10 in singles matches, including 7-5 in dual matches. Mila Mejic went 7-1 in his last eight matches of the season. In doubles McKamey and Lexi Kubas paired to go 11-3 in doubles matches. Annabelle Andrinopoulos and Jelly Bozovic finished with a doubles record of 13-4, including 6-1 in dual matches.