The Women's tennis team coasted to an easy 7-0 victory over Indiana Saturday at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. The match, as it was intended to be, was a tune up for the important National Team Indoors that commences Thursday.
The fourth-ranked Blue Devils moved to 4-0 on the season and the Hoosiers dropped their first match , falling to 2-1.
Indiana struggled with injuries and consequently was forced to forfeit one doubles match and two singles matches. The Blue Devils overpowered the Hoosiers, refusing to drop a single set in the six matches played.
"It's a good match before National Team Indoors which is the reason we scheduled it," head coach Jamie Ashworth said. "We are a better team than they are, but I wanted people to feel confident going into National Team Indoors. Also, I wanted them to be able to work on some things in match situations instead of just practice."
In the No. 1 singles match, No. 2-ranked Kelly McCain defeated Linda Tran 6-1, 6-2. Tran struggled to respond to McCain's baseline power.
"I ended up having pretty easy shots and being able to be aggressive," McCain said.
McCain's serve was another strong point, compiling a number of aces and service winners.
"She has been struggling with her serve a little bit," said Ashworth. "This was only her second match in a while so it was good for her to put herself in the match situation. To go out and go through two sets was good because you don't have the same focus you do in practice."
In other action, 15th-ranked Amanda Johnson looked shaky in her match against Sarah Batty but pulled out a 6-3, 6-3 victory. At the start of the second set, Johnson played a number of loose games, compiling several unforced errors. At 4-3 in the second, Johnson broke Batty's serve and served out the match.
"Amanda especially has been struggling confidence-wise with her forehand," Ashworth said. "We talked about having her work on that and about controlling points with her forehand in the match situation."
Julia Smith and Saras Arasu both coasted to easy singles victories. Smith, on the way to a 6-1, 6-1 victory, used her height and reach to create angles that her opponent has trouble running down.
In doubles action, the Blue Devils were again dominant. Katie Granson and Smith downed Martina Grimm and Batty by a score of 8-1. Julia DeRoo and Hillary Adams defeated Tran and Dominika Walterova 8-2.
"In the doubles we are trying to work on some serving this with Hillary even though we switched the teams around," Ashworth said.
The team is confident and looks forward to proving their abilities to the nation when the National Indoors begins Thursday.
"We are pretty confident," said McCain. "We have been winning pretty handily so we should be okay."
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