Indiana women's tennis responded from a loss to No. 51 Nebraska last weekend with a comeback win against in-state rival Purdue on Saturday. The Hoosiers played the Boilermakers at the IU Tennis Center for their third consecutive home game and secured a 4-2 win over the No. 65 team in the country.
Indiana is now 2-3 against Big Ten opponents as the team improved its overall record to 9-9 this season.
The Hoosiers fell behind quickly in Saturday’s match after the Boilermakers took home the doubles point to get out to an early 1-0 lead. Indiana junior Alexandra Staiculescu and sophomore Laura Masic earned singles matches wins in the second and third singles matches, which helped the team earn two points.
A 6-4, 6-3 win by Purdue senior Seira Shimizu against sophomore Sayda Hernandez tied the match at 2-2, but Indiana continued to dominate in the singles matches and picked up another pair of wins. Freshman Lara Schneider won the first singles match 6-1, 6-3, and was followed up by junior Mila Mejic, who took her match to three sets and won 6-0, 7-6 (7-3) over Purdue freshman Juana Larranaga.
Related: [Indiana men’s tennis goes 0-2 against No. 2 Ohio State, Penn State despite bounce-back attempt]
With the victory, Indiana secured its second Big Ten win of the year after defeating Iowa at home on March 26. The team also snapped its four game losing streak against Purdue. Before Saturday’s win, the Hoosiers’ last win against the Boilermakers came on April 1, 2017, while the last time they won against the Boilermakers in Bloomington went back to March 14, 2014.
Indiana will be back in action on Friday to conclude its four-match home stand, facing Penn State before going on a three-match road trip later next week.
