The last home matches of the season mean several different things, most notably that the team will play its final four matches on the road, for IU women’s tennis. However, the one tradition that also comes with a team’s last home match is honoring the graduating players on senior night.
Seniors Kim Schmider and Paula Gutierrez and graduate student Alicia Robinson all will play their final matches in Bloomington this Sunday.
Gutierrez and Schmider have played at Indiana all four years, whereas Robinson had been to three different schools — Coastal Carolina, South Florida and Baylor — before arriving in Bloomington.
“It’s going to be hard,” Gutierrez said. “I already told the coaches and the girls that my matches are going to be rough because I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold in my emotions.”
Schmider said she feels the same way but hopes that it doesn’t have any effect on the way she plays. IU Coach Ramiro Azcui said he isn’t planning to do anything special before the matches in order to keep his team focused.
“It’s going to be very sad knowing that this is their last weekend playing for Indiana,” Azcui said. “It’s going to be an emotional weekend.”
As for the team, IU looks to pick up two more Big Ten wins against Illinois and Northwestern.
IU is 11-9 on the season and is coming off a 4-3 victory against Purdue and a 4-2 loss to Marquette last weekend. The Hoosiers currently sit at ninth in the Big Ten standings with a conference record of 2-3. Only the top 10 out of 14 teams make the Big Ten Tournament at the end of the season.
Illinois, with a 3-2 conference record, and Northwestern, which has a perfect 5-0 Big Ten record, are both ahead of IU in the standings.
Gutierrez said she believes that if the team can beat Illinois and Northwestern, it will ensure that IU secures a spot in the tournament.
“If we can get both wins I think it’ll be huge,” Azcui said. “It will be huge for our confidence and momentum for the last four matches.”
Schmider said the team dynamics against Purdue last Saturday were great and she will look to carry that positive chemistry and momentum into these matches.
IU was able to get the doubles point against Purdue, which it hadn’t done in the four matches prior to that. This was due in part to the coaches’ switching up the combinations and teaming Gutierrez with sophomore Natalie Whalen at the No. 2 doubles spot. Azcui said the plan is to team them up again for both of this weekend’s matches.
In order to win this weekend, Azcui said each player has to be accountable for themselves, which he thought was one of the reasons they lost to Marquette.
“They need to take responsibility for their own court,” Azcui said. “The players have been worrying about what’s happening next to them and that has hurt us. So, we’ve been focusing on how they will help the team and contribute to a win.”
The match against Illinois is at 4 p.m. Friday. Then, the Hoosiers will get a day off before the Wildcats come to down for their senior day match at 11 a.m. Sunday.
