Indiana women’s tennis fell 4-1 to No. 6 seed Iowa and was eliminated from the Big Ten tournament Thursday in West Lafayette. The Hoosiers finished the season 14-11 overall and 4-7 in the Big Ten.
The Hoosiers played the Hawkeyes on April 2 and won, but this time the outcome was different. Head coach Ramiro Azcui shuffled the doubles pairings, but it wasn’t enough to win to doubles point.
Playing together for the first time, redshirt juniors Mila Mejic and Alexandra Staiculescu won 6-4 at No. 3 against Hawkeye freshman Pia Kranholdt and sophomore Barbora Pokorna.
Despite starting with a win, Indiana lost the other two matches and saw the doubles point slip away once again. At No. 1, graduate student Saby Nihalani and redshirt junior Xiaowei "Rose" Hu played together for the first time and lost 7-5 to Iowa’s fifth-year senior Anya Lamoreaux and junior Vipasha Mehra.
New No. 2 double sophomore Lara Schneider and freshman Nicole Teodosescu were defeated 7-5 by Hawkeye’s fifth-year senior Samantha Mannix and sophomore Marisa Schmidt. With the comeback, the Hawkeyes took the doubles point.
Following the trend for the second half of the season, Indiana failed to win the doubles point and started from behind once again. The Hoosiers also lost the point in their win against the Hawkeyes earlier in the season.
In singles play, the Hoosiers started with a win at No. 1 to tie the game. Schneider won 6-3 and 6-1 against Mannix and improved to team’s best 13-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten.
At No. 6, Hu lost 6-3 and 6-2 to Iowa’s Kranholdt, extending her losing streak to three games and closing the season 6-8 overall and 2-5 in the conference. Then, No. 4 Teodosescu fell 6-4 and 6-3 to Iowa’s Pokorna, ending the season on a two-game losing streak. The Hoosiers' freshman finished the year 8-7 overall and 5-5 in the Big Ten.
No. 5 Staiculescu fought hard but lost 4-6, 6-4 and 6-0 to Hawkeye’s Mehra, which awarded the Hawkeyes the win. With the loss, Staiculescu finished the season 5-16 overall, including 3-8 in the Big Ten, and on a four-game losing streak.
Indiana is now 12-8 against Iowa and had a two-game winning streak snapped with Thursday’s loss. Indiana finished with a 6-7 away record this season, and at home, the Hoosiers went 8-4.
The Hoosiers finished the year on a four-game losing streak and with an exit in the second round of the Big Ten tournament.
