The IU women’s tennis team’s season was on the line Sunday, and the Hoosiers managed to play themselves into the Big Ten Tournament with a 6-1 win against the Penn State Nittany Lions.
The two teams were 3-7 in conference play coming into the match and tied for 10th place. With only 10 of 14 Big Ten teams making the postseason tournament, one team’s season would end after the match.
Coming into the match senior Paula Gutierrez said the doubles point would prove to be crucial. Gutierrez and her partner, sophomore Natalie Whalen, took care of business in their doubles match at the No. 2 spot by winning 6-4.
Senior Kim Schmider and sophomore Madison Appel trailed five games to three at the No. 1 doubles spot. Then, the No. 41-ranked NCAA doubles team won four consecutive games to win their match and put the Hoosiers up 1-0.
IU Coach Ramiro Azcui said the doubles point was a huge momentum builder for the team.
Play then moved to the singles, where the Hoosiers have struggled lately. They only needed three players to score a victory to clinch the match, and five of them did.
Azcui said the adjustment of switching Schmider to the No. 6 singles spot and moving freshman Pauline Jahren to the No. 5 spot really helped his team.
“Kim did a great job getting up 6-0 on her opponent,” Azcui said. “To win five out of the six singles matches was a statement to show how well the team played today.”
Both teams had played two days prior to Sunday. IU lost 7-0 to No. 5 Ohio State while Penn State beat Purdue 5-2.
Sunday was the Nittany Lions’ senior day, and with five seniors on the roster, emotions were high.
“We knew they were going to come out with huge intensity,” Azcui said. “For us to be able to overcome that first punch was huge and helped the momentum of the match.”
Azcui said he was proud that his two seniors picked up victories while none of the Nittany Lions’ seniors did.
The Hoosiers finished the regular season with a 13-13 record, including 4-7 in the conference, and are now heading to their second consecutive Big Ten Tournament.
In the first round, the Hoosiers will take on the Iowa Hawkeyes, who took down IU earlier this year 6-1.
Azcui said his team knows it didn’t play well against the Hawkeyes but is looking to use this momentum to get some revenge.
IU’s opening match of the conference tournament will be 3 p.m. Thursday in Champaign, Illinois.
