The No. 49 Indiana Hoosiers women’s tennis team traveled to Cincinnati on Saturday to play its first dual matches of the season against Miami (OH) and Cincinnati. The women did not lose a singles or doubles match against either team and Indiana is off to a 2-0 start in the spring season.
IU Coach Lin Loring said that it was a good experience for the team to play a couple of matches on the road to start the season.
“We knew that we were probably favored in both matches and I don’t think we played down to the competition,” he said. “We played at a pretty good level and there were a couple of matches that we dropped a set but I thought that our opponents played very well. We did a good job of winning those so all in all I think it will help our confidence as we prepare for harder matches.”
The Hoosiers played the Miami RedHawks on Saturday morning and they won five of their six singles matches in straight stats. At the No. 1 position, senior Leslie Hureau defeated Nimisha Mohan 6-2, 6-1. Sophomore Katie Klyczek topped Alix Thurman 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 3 singles match. Junior Sophie Garre and sophomore Shannon Murdy won their matches 6-4, 6-0 against Christine Guerrazzi and Ramona Costea, respectively. In the No. 6 singles match, senior Jithmie Jayawickrema bested Chloe Heerden 7-5, 6-3.
In the No. 2 and final singles match against Miami, sophomore Alecia Kauss came from behind to defeat Christiana Raymond 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8) to finish the perfect singles record for Indiana.
In three doubles matches, the Hoosiers only lost four games to the RedHawks. In the No. 1 doubles match, the No. 31 combination of Garre and Hureau defeated Raymond/Guerrazzi 8-1. Kauss and Murdy bested Mohan/Thurman 8-3 in the No. 2 position. Klyczek and junior Gabrielle Rubenstein did not lose a game in an 8-0 victory against Costea/Heerden in the No. 3 doubles match.
After defeating Miami 7-0, Indiana repeated its success with another 7-0 win against Cincinnati. The only change made between the matches was Alecia Kauss and Katie Klyczek switching singles positions so that Klyczek was in the No. 2 spot against Cincinnati. IU Coach Loring said that both women have been playing at a pretty equal level and further adjustments could have been made if sophomore Carolyn Chupa had not been sick over the weekend.
Similarly to the Hoosiers’ singles wins against the RedHawks, the women won five matches in straight sets. In the No. 1 match, Hureau defeated Jasmine Lee 6-0, 6-0. At No. 2, Klyczek only lost one game to Caitlin O’Gara in a 6-0, 6-1 victory. Kauss bested Ashleigh Witte 6-1, 6-3 in the No. 3 match. Garre won the No. 4 singles match 6-2, 6-4 against Kelly Poggensee-Wei. In the No. 6 match, Jayawickrema defeated 6-4, 6-2.
At No. 5, Shannon Murdy defeated Sierra Sullivan 3-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-5) to complete the 6-0 singles record against Cincinnati.
In doubles, Garre/Hureau bested Lee/O’Gara 8-3 in the No. 1 match. Kauss/Murdy topped Witte/Sullivan 8-1 in the No. 2 match. At No. 3, Klyczek/Rubenstein won their match against Poggensee-Wei/Woulfe 8-3.
Overall, IU Coach Loring said that the women played best in doubles. He said that it’s always an area in which an underdog team can keep the matches close due to doubles being more team-oriented than singles matches.
Indiana has a week off before the women’s tennis team hosts Marquette next Saturday at 11 a.m.
