With only one matchup scheduled for the weekend, Indiana women’s tennis made the trip Friday to University Park, Pennsylvania, to take on No. 36 Penn State. The Nittany Lions swept the Hoosiers 4-0.
Indiana entered the match at 6-6 after dropping a road match on March 2nd against then-No. 8 Ohio State. Graduate student Lara Schneider returned Friday after missing four of the last five matches with a rib injury.
Indiana played from behind to start after dropping the doubles point. On the No. 1 doubles court, juniors Olivia Dorner and Maiko Uchijima came out on top 6-2 over the Hoosier pairing of Schneider and junior Nicole Teodosescu.
Indiana responded when sophomore Li Hsin Lin and freshman Nicole Sifuentes prevailed over sophomore Jordina Cegarra and freshman Patricia Grigoras 7-5 on the No. 2 doubles court.
Penn State later sealed the doubles point on the No. 3 doubles court. The Penn State pairing of senior Yvonne Zuffova and freshman Jelena Vico defeated sophomore Magdalena Swierczynska and sophomore Elisabeth Dunac 6-4.
The singles matches proved to be competitive on almost every court. The first singles match to conclude was on the No. 3 singles court. Grigoras dominated Hoosier freshman Marina Fuduric 6-1, 6-2 to push the Penn State lead to 2-0.
A few moments later, Teodosescu lost in a 3-set thriller to Uchijima, 1-6, 7-6, 3-6, on the No. 2 singles court. Teodosescu dropped the first set before racing ahead in the second , ultimately winning the second set tiebreaker to force a decisive third set. Uchijima eventually prevailed in each of the last 3 games to win her match.
The Nittany Lions later sealed the match on the No. 5 singles court. Zuffova defeated Sifuentes 6-3, 6-4 in straight sets.
The Hoosiers are yet to win a conference game dating back to April 23, 2023.
The competitive matches showed flashes of the potential this Indiana team has. With numerous close finishes against two top 40 teams so far, the Hoosiers will face 7 ranked opponents in their last 10 matches of the season.
Indiana has now dropped 5 straight matches against Penn State and has suffered back-to-back ranked losses. Those two losses have dropped the Hoosiers’ record to 6-7 on the season.
The Hoosiers will return to the courts at 3 p.m. Friday at the IU Tennis Center in Bloomington when it hosts Maryland.
Follow reporter Noah Gerkey (@Noah_Gerk) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s tennis season.
