Indiana women’s tennis beat Xavier University 4-3 on Saturday afternoon in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers started the doubles from behind with No. 2 redshirt junior Mila Mejic and graduate student Lauren Lemonds losing 6-2.
At No. 3, Indiana redshirt juniors Alexandra Staiculescu and Xiaowei "Rose" Hu won 6-4 to bring the Hoosiers back into the game.
Playing for the doubles point, the Hoosiers’ No. 1 doubles, sophomore Lara Schneider and graduate student Saby Nihalani, were down 5-4 in games but worked their way back to take the game to tie break and win it 7-5.
The Hoosier’s No. 1 doubles are leading the way for Indiana’s success, as they have a 5-1 record this season.
For the singles, Lemmonds lost 6-3 and 6-1 at No. 5. After a hot start to the season, Lemmonds now dropped to 3-3 in singles.
However, Schneider and Nihalani kept the rhythm from the doubles as Schneider won 6-1 and 6-2 at No. 1 and Nihalani won 7-5 and 6-1 at No. 2. Schneider improved to 3-2 and Nihalani to 4-1 in singles this season.
No. 3 Staiculescu lost 6-2, 2-6 and 6-2, and is yet to win a singles game this season. Her record dropped to 0-5 after the losses.
No. 4 Mejic, who is now 5-2 in singles this season, won 7-6 (8-6) and 6-2 to give the Hoosiers the win.
Despite having the overall result defined, No. 6 Hu played the whole game and lost 7-5 and 6-4, dropping to 3-3 in singles this season. With her loss, the overall score was settled at 4-3 for the Hoosiers.
With the home win, Indiana has now won two of its last three matches and improved to 5-2 overall this season and 4-1 at home.
Indiana travels to Salt Lake City to play the University of Utah on Feb. 17. The game is scheduled for 5 p.m.
