Same result, different day.
For the second time in five days, the women's tennis team faced Michigan State, and for the second time the Spartans cruised to a 5-2 victory, yesterday.
The preliminary round loss in the Big Ten Championships pushes the 10th-seeded Lions down to the ninth-place consolation bracket, where they will take on 11th-seeded Purdue at 11 a.m. today.
The Lions' lone Big Ten victory of the season came against the Boilermakers, 5-4, at the Penn State Tennis Club on April 10.
Yesterday, the Lions managed to get a little revenge on the Spartans, who defeated Penn State 8-1 on Sunday.
Two freshmen were able to fight off the nerves of their first Big Ten Championships, winning the two Lady Lion matches. Robyn Reagan defeated Kim Anderson for the second time this season, 6-4, 6-4, and Tricia Lehman came back to defeat Amy Spiegal, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, reversing Sunday's final.
Coach Sue Whiteside has preached all season not to count out anybody in the Big Ten.
"You never know. I think that anything can happen," Whiteside has been saying all season.
But with the nation's No. 11 team at the top of the conference standings, the odds have to be overwhelming.
In sports the term dynasty cannot be used loosely, but for the Indiana women's tennis team that seems the only appropriate word.
Although they have not officially changed the name of this weekend's championships to The Hoosier Invitational, it very well could be. Since the Big Ten first held a championship for women's tennis, in 1982, the Hoosiers have won nine, only faltering twice to Northwestern.
The No. 11 Hoosiers will go into play today against Minnesota as the No. 1 seed and as a heavy favorite playing on their home courts.
The Hoosiers should not be seriously challenged until the finals, where they should face either No. 2 seed Illinois or No. 24-ranked and third seed Wisconsin.
Notes:
-- The Penn State-Purdue winner will meet No. 9 seed Ohio State at 1 p.m. tomorrow for ninth place.
-- The No. 1 singles spot in an Indiana-Illinois final could decide the Big Ten Player of the Year race, as Hoosier Deb Edelman and Illinois' Lindsey Nimmo would meet. Edelman, 1990 and 1992 player of the year, and Nimmo are ranked back-to-back by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, at No. 18 and No. 19, respectively.
