Indiana women’s tennis continued its winning ways to start the season in a pair of matches Sunday. The Hoosiers defeated Butler University 5-2 and the University of Southern Indiana 7-0.
Indiana’s first opponent was Butler, a program that had never beaten the Hoosiers in the previous 16 opportunities and had only been able to win one total point across those matchups. Indiana’s quest to continue that trend started strong by taking the doubles point.
The No. 2 doubles matchup was the first to conclude in what was a dominant showing by a pair of Hoosier sophomores. Li Hsin Lin and Magdalena Swierczynska rolled to a 6-1 victory over the Butler pairing of senior Katie Beavin and sophomore Lauren Cook.
Not too far behind them was the No. 3 doubles match. Indiana sophomore Elisabeth Dunac and freshman Nicole Sifuentes jumped out to a 4-0 lead early in the match and held off a late Bulldog rally to beat the pairing of senior Norah Balthazor and senior Emma Beavin 6-4.
The two victories at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles spots gave the home squad the first point of the match.
The singles matches were back-and-forth all afternoon, resulting in a few close finishes. Redshirt senior Lara Schneider was the first Hoosier to capture a win on the singles court as she defeated senior Katie Beavin 6-1, 6-0.
The Bulldogs then responded as junior Chase Metcalf defeated junior Nicole Teodosescu 6-2, 6-4 to give Butler its first point of the match. Shortly after, Sifuentes prevailed 6-4, 6-4 over freshman Brooke Arington to extend the Hoosier lead to 3-1.
However, things got a lot tighter for the home team as Balthazor stunned Indiana freshman Marina Fuduric 6-4, 7-5 to cut the score to 3-2.
All eyes then turned to the No. 5 singles court as Swierczynska and Emma Beavin were in a second set tiebreaker. Swierczynska eventually pulled away late in the tiebreaker to win her match 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) to give Indiana the victory in the contest.
Dunac also won her match on the No. 6 singles court 5-7, 7-5, 10-8 to give Indiana another point, ending the match 5-2 in favor of the Hoosiers.
Despite what head coach Gabrielle Moore called a “slow start,” the Hoosiers found a way to come away with the 5-2 victory.
“We came out a little slow, not what I would want,” Moore said. “But we are really happy with how we pulled it out in the end, we were able to lock in at the end and get the job done.”
After a short break, the Hoosiers played host to USI, a team that Indiana had never played prior to Sunday.
The success that the Hoosiers had in the first half of the doubleheader continued into the second match. The Schneider/Teodosescu pairing had no trouble with sophomore Anais Negrail and sophomore Sofia Davidoff, winning 6-0 on doubles court No.1.
The No. 2 doubles pair followed suit by winning their match and claiming the doubles point. Fuduric and Lin were victorious 6-2 over senior Madison Windham and sophomore Antonia Ferrarini.
After securing the doubles point, the Hoosiers were in complete control of the singles matches as well. Fuduric got the scoring started on the singles court by defeating Ferrarini 6-0, 6-0. Moments later, Indiana picked up two more quick points with Dunac and Lin each winning their matches in decisive fashion.
Swierczynska joined her teammates’ success by taking her match by a score of 6-2, 6-3 over Screaming Eagle freshman Rylie Wilkinson. Schneider followed that match, continuing her excellent day by prevailing 6-0, 6-3.
Schneider thinks a lot of her success came from attacking the opponent and being aggressive from the opening serve.
“I wanted to take control of the point before they could,” Schneider said. “I know I'm a stronger player than both of the schools that I played, being in control and confident was big for me.”
Teodosescu completed the Indiana sweep by topping Negrail 6-4, 6-4 to win the matchup 7-0.
Indiana improved to 3-0 on the season and will now travel to face Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University at 12 p.m. Feb. 1 in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Looking ahead, Moore and her squad aim to build off the momentum from Sunday to pick up a win over the Hokies.
“It’s an exciting time, when we have that momentum going into Virginia Tech, and hopefully we make the adjustments needed in order to compete well on the road,” Moore said. “We have 24 hours to sit in whatever we are feeling in the moment, but on Tuesday, we have got to go back to work.”
Follow reporter Noah Gerkey (@Noah_Gerk) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s tennis season.
