With just two matches remaining in the season, Indiana women’s tennis looked to finish the year strong and achieve its season-long goal: finishing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association final rankings.
With the final two matches of the year being against ranked opponents, the Hoosiers had a chance to make one last push toward this target. However, they dropped both matches on the weekend.
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The first match of the weekend was against No. 42 Illinois on Friday at the IU Varsity Tennis Courts at the IU Tennis Center in Bloomington. Illinois defeated Indiana 4-0.
Indiana entered tied for 14th in the Big Ten standings, two games behind both Northwestern and Penn State. With only the top 12 teams making the tournament, the Hoosiers needed to win both matches and have Penn State and Michigan State lose twice.
Despite the weather being somewhat favorable, conditions affected play throughout the match. Numerous shots fell short into the net or sailed past the baseline at times due to the wind that reached 36 mph.
Illinois got the scoring started by clinching the doubles point.
The No. 2 and No. 3 doubles courts produced two Illini victories in doubles play. Illinois junior Violeta Martinez and sophomore Alice Xu defeated Indiana sophomore Li Hsin Lin and freshman Nicole Sifuentes 6-3 on the No. 2 doubles court.
The No. 3 doubles court concluded shortly after. Illinois junior Mckenna Schaefbauer and senior Kasia Treiber prevailed in a back-and-forth contest with Indiana sophomore Elisabeth Dunac and freshman Marina Fuduric.
Illinois continued its winning ways in the singles play.
Martinez took on Fuduric, whotrailed throughout the second set but pushed the score to 5-4 late in the set. She later dropped the last game in the set and fell in the match 6-1, 6-4 on the No. 2 singles court.
The Fighting Illini extended their lead on the No. 4 singles court. Freshman Ariel Madatali nabbed a straight set 6-3, 6-3 victory over Lin to push Illinois to 1 point from victory.
The final four matches of the afternoon all went to three sets. Sifuentes, Dunac and junior Nicole Teodosescu dropped their first set and stormed back to win the second set. Redshirt senior Lara Schneider took her first set before dropping the second.
Sifuentes eventually fell to Treiber 3-6, 6-2, 3-6, in a match that sealed the 4-0 victory for the road squad.
Despite the close matches and results, Indiana head coach Gabrielle Moore believed the slow start cost the Hoosiers.
“We came out 90 minutes after we should have, the energy was down and we had three courts down 3-0 in 20 minutes,” Moore said post match. “I’m happy we found some solutions, but it was too little too late.”
The loss to Illinois officially eliminated the Hoosiers from Big Ten Tournament contention.
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Indiana’s focus then shifted to Sunday, which was its last match of the season. Knowing there were no tournament hopes for Indiana, the message and motivation for the match was clear.
“Do it for Lara,” Moore said.
Sunday marked the final match redshirt senior Lara Schneider’s — Indiana’s only senior — career.
“Lara has given everything to this program,” Moore said Friday. “We want to end the year out the best that we can for her. She’s our captain and means everything to this team.”
Schneider’s final match came against No. 50 Northwestern in Bloomington. Northwestern defeated Indiana 4-2 on Sunday afternoon.
Northwestern got the scoring started with a pair of wins on the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles courts. Senior Kiley Rabjohns and graduate student Britany Lau defeated Dunac and sophomore Magdalena Swierczynska with ease, 6-2 on the No. 3 doubles court.
A pair of Wildcats freshmen, Erica Jessel and Mika Dagan Fruchtman, held off Lin’s and Sifuentes’ late comeback, winning 7-5 and claiming the doubles point.
Indiana yet again got out to a slow start in singles, with four of the six courts dropping the first set.
After dropping the first set 4-6, Teodosescu stole the show, dominating the next two sets 6-2, 6-1 to even the match at 1 on the No. 3 singles court.
Schneider finished her career on a high note, defeating Jessel 6-4, 6-3 in an emotion filled match. Both players were vocal in celebrating throughout with every point that was decided. The major turning point in the match came late in the second set as Jessel trailed 4-3 with the score sitting at 40-40 to decide the game.
Jessel turned, saying “This is so fucking ridiculous.” She received a point penalty for foul language, which gave Schneider the game. Schneider then proceeded to win four straight points to give herself a senior day victory.
The overall match was still yet to be decided.
Northwestern senior Sydney Pratt rolled past Lin 6-3, 7-5 on the No. 4 singles court. Dagan Fruchtman followed suit with her 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) win over Dunac on the No. 6 singles court to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead. The match concluded when Northwestern sophomore Neena Feldman defeated Fuduric in three sets, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 on the No. 2 singles court.
Last season, the Hoosiers went 6-20 overall and 0-11 in conference play. The Hoosiers finished this season with an 8-15 record overall and 2-11 in Big Ten play.
Despite a slight improvement in the record from last season, Moore is optimistic and ready to change the way people think about Indiana tennis.
“Some progress is better than no progress, we have to trust our process, stay consistent and continue to grow,” Moore said Sunday. “We have four girls coming in next year that are very well seasoned on the tennis court, along with the girls we are returning next year. That’s really big for our program.”
Follow reporter Noah Gerkey (@Noah_Gerk) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s tennis season.
