The IU women’s tennis team had a taste of both victory and defeat in its three home matches this weekend.
On Friday, IU was blanked 4-0 by the University of Kentucky, but the Hoosiers responded Sunday with with 4-0 and 4-1 wins against Xavier University and Western Michigan University on Sunday.
Against Kentucky, IU hung around in some of its matches but not enough to stop Kentucky from earning a victory. Seniors Caitlin Bernard and Annabelle Andrinopoulos tried to give the Hoosiers a spark by winning their first singles sets, but other matches went Kentucky’s way. Junior Michelle McKamey and freshmen Rose Hu and Alexandra Staiculescu lost their singles matches.
On Sunday, the Hoosiers played in their second doubleheader of the season. The morning match against Xavier was one that IU assistant coach Ryan Miller said could end up going down to the wire. Instead, IU beat Xavier 4-0 and avenged its loss to the Musketeers last season.
In the Sunday afternoon match against Western Michigan, Miller said the coaches would be interested to see how IU could play fatigued against a team with strong players at the top of its roster. After winning the doubles point, Bernard, Andrinopoulos and McKamey all won in two sets to clinch the win for IU.
The two Sunday victories move the Hoosiers to 3-2 on the season with three and a half more weeks of nonconference play remaining.
Next Friday, IU will travel to Annapolis, Maryland, to take on the United States Naval Academy. On Sunday, IU will play another doubleheader in Bloomington against the University of Tennessee and Eastern Michigan University.
