IU women fall in quarterfinals, await NCAA fate

The IU women’s tennis team was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament for the fifth consecutive year. The No. 38-ranked and No. 6-seeded Hoosiers fell 4-0 to No. 15-ranked and No. 3-seeded Northwestern, the No. 3 seed, Friday afternoon at the IU varsity tennis courts.

The matchup was a rematch from April 21, when the Wildcats defeated IU 6-1 in Evanston, Ill. However, sophomore Carolyn Chupa did not play in the first meeting between the two teams due to a concussion.

Chupa was cleared to play in the Big Ten Tournament, which created completely different matchups from Sunday’s conference bout. On Friday, there were four new singles and two new doubles matches.

While the final score was lopsided, the match was competitive at every level. The doubles point was decided late in the No. 3 match and four of the six singles matches went to a third set.

The No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 singles matches ended unfinished. Senior Leslie Hureau, who is ranked No. 110 in the country, led No. 123 Veronica Corning 6-2, 4-3.

Northwestern’s Belinda Niu had a slight lead against Chupa 7-5, 2-6, 4-3, while the No. 5 singles match was tied 5-5 in the third set.

“I thought we had a battle on every court,” IU Coach Lin Loring said.

He said the four-hour long match would have lasted another 45 minutes if all of the matches finished, which he said showed how evenly matched the two teams were.

“We played well and I think we gave them everything they could handle,” he said.
Chupa and Hureau teamed up for the No. 1 doubles match. They defeated No. 14 tandem Linda Abu Mushrefova/Nida Hamilton, 8-4.

Sophomores Alecia Kauss and Shannon Murdy fell into a deep hole early as Veronica Corning and Alicia Barnett jumped out to a 6-1 lead. The Hoosiers fought back to cut Northwestern’s lead to 7-3 but ultimately lost the No. 2 doubles match 8-3.

The No. 3 match was left to determine which team would win the doubles point.

Northwestern’s Niu/Kate Turvy led sophomore Katie Klyczek and junior Sophie Garre 6-4 when the No. 2 match finished. Rallying around the energy of the fans and Garre’s emotional display of energy, IU fought back to tie the match at six games apiece.

The Hoosiers struggled to land their serve returns in bounds and Northwestern won the No. 3 doubles match 8-6, taking the doubles point and a 1-0 lead in the quarterfinals.

In the No. 2 singles match, No. 51 Turvy tested her underhand slice serve against No. 103 Klyczek and prevailed 6-3, 6-1 to increase Northwestern’s lead to 2-0.

Loring said Klyczek’s matchup was a challenge for her due to the contrast in their play styles. He said Turvy suffered a shoulder injury and can’t serve overhand.

“When you’ve never played against someone who cuts the ball like that it’s tough,” he said. “It’s a tough serve, and she’s perfected it.”

Despite the loss in the No. 2 match, Loring said Klyczek showed a lot of improvement from April 21 when Turvy defeated her 6-1, 6-0.

“Katie needs a hitter,” he said. “She wants to play with someone that hits. That girl has a great loop and a great slice, and it’s the absolute worst matchup for Katie. We knew that was going to be a tough match.”

Mushrefova defeated Kauss in the No. 4 singles match 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 to bring Northwestern one step closer to advancing to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

Hamilton ended the match when she came from behind to top senior Jithmie Jayawickrema 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the No. 6 position.

“We put ourselves in the position to win,” Loring said. “There were four three-set matches, the two that were two sets we were going to win one of them and they won one of them. It’s about as close as it can get. I know the girls are really disappointed, especially to lose at home but I thought we represented ourselves really well.”

After suffering a loss to the Wildcats, the Hoosiers fell to 18-9 on the season, which is an improvement from their 16-11 record last year.

IU will take the weekend off then resume practice May 6-7 in hopes that the team is given an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.

The NCAA Championships Selection Show will be live streamed at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. on NCAA.com