Hoosiers win in consecutive comeback

The weekend brought the Hoosiers  two up-hill contests and a drop in doubles points.
Prevailing in a pair of 4-3 wins, the IU tennis team (12-7, 4-2) defeated Iowa and Minnesota in its first home Big Ten matches of the season.

Dropping their doubles point to the Hawkeyes, the Hoosiers struggled to win only one doubles contest on Saturday.

“We all thought that obviously losing the doubles point is a disadvantage because you’re down 0-1 and you know you have to win four singles,” senior Sigrid Fischer said.

Play tightened in singles, where three of six matches went to three sets. Senior Alba Berdala and sophomore Myriam Sopel defeated their opponents in straight sets. Both won the first set, 6-4.

Fischer said the team knew they needed to win in singles since they were favored.
“As a team, we’re stronger in singles than in doubles because we haven’t found the best doubles combination yet,” Fischer said.

The uphill comeback continued as Fischer and junior Lindsey Stuckey used their singles strength to win in three sets. After dropping the first set, Fischer snatched the second and third set, 7-5.

On Sunday, the Hooisers faced the same scenario. Beginning the match with a loss of their doubles point to Minnesota, the Hoosiers began to comeback again.

After sophomore Charlotte Martin lost her match, the Gophers gained a 2-0 lead. However, the Hoosiers stole the momentum when Stuckey and Fischer won in straight sets to tie the score.

Winning in three sets, Katya Zapadalova put the Hoosiers ahead. Sopel then pulled through with a second set tiebreak win to give IU its first win on the day.

“We probably should have won better than 4-3,” Fischer said. “It’s good that somebody stepped up. We played amazing at the end.”