IU’s season ends with NCAA loss to Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. – Their season ended with a 4-1 loss to No. 5 Northwestern in the second round of the NCAA championships Saturday afternoon, but the Hoosier women’s tennis team didn’t seem to mind. The team acted the same way they had the day before, after their defeat of No. 43 Boise State – joking with each other, smiling and taking pictures with their families and coaches.\nThe fact is that the team had nothing to be upset over. At the beginning of their season, the team was placed in the middle of the Big Ten conference with a mediocre record. At the end of the season, the Hoosiers had achieved a 9-1 record in the Big Ten conference and a 21-7 record overall. Four of those losses came to teams ranked in the top 10 nationally and the last three to teams in the top 25.\n“I was really happy with the season we had,” Head Coach Lin Loring said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the girls. ... In January, we felt like we would probably be 5-5 in conference and a national ranking somewhere 55 to 60. So to go 9-1 in conference and the second round of the NCAA (tournament), we couldn’t be happier.”\nWith a strong breeze off Lake Michigan no more than a block away on Friday, playing conditions were anything but pleasant. But that didn’t seem to bother the No. 24 Hoosiers as they defeated Boise State four wins to two in a best of seven series.\nThe match was not an easy one for the Hoosiers. With the teams tied in the match at two, sophomore Alba Berdala and senior Laura McGaffigan had to come from behind in their third sets to win the number one and two matches, respectively.\nOn Saturday, the Hoosiers began their bout against Northwestern in control of the doubles matches, but the Wildcats battled back to earn the point. From there, Northwestern didn’t look back, winning the match 4-1.\n“I feel like we fought every single match so hard throughout this entire season,” McGaffigan said. “I feel like we played with so much heart, we can’t be too mad at ourselves. And Northwestern is always a good team. We came out here and fought as hard as we could, and there was not much more that we could have done.”\nMcGaffigan finished her career by earning IU’s only point versus Northwestern, defeating the No. 43 singles player in the nation, freshman Samantha Murray 6-3, 6-3. \nBerdala was poised to gain another point for IU when Northwestern gathered its last needed point of the day. Berdala was leading No. 13 sophomore Georgia Rose 6-3, 3-3 when the match ended, marking with it the end of Indiana’s season.\n“It just simply wasn’t one of the better teams we had at IU, but they didn’t know it,” Loring said. “We forgot to tell them they weren’t supposed to be that good. I’m serious, they just very much overachieved with the talent we had and the team’s chemistry accounted for a lot of that. The team got along great.”