Indiana women's tennis headed into the past weekend with a record of 9-9 and came out 9-11 after facing off against Penn State on Friday and No. 37 Northwestern on Sunday. The Hoosiers dropped their two matches and now have a Big Ten record of 2-5.
The Hoosiers were coming off a six-day break after defeating in-state rival No. 65 Purdue on April 2. Friday’s match against Penn State marked the fourth-straight home game for Indiana before they traveled to Evanston, Illinois to face Northwestern.
The Hoosiers were faced with a deficit early in the match after losing the doubles point with two-straight match wins by Penn State. Graduate student Gabby O’Gorman and sophomore Alexandra Nielsen won the first doubles match for Penn State, taking down Indiana juniors Lexi Kubas and Rose Hu 6-1.
Indiana responded by taking the first singles match of the day to get their lone point of the day. Junior Mila Mejic posted a 6-1, 6-3 win for the Hoosiers over sophomore Karly Friedland. Penn State won the next four straight singles matches, though, closing out the Hoosiers 5-1.
Sunday’s road match in Evanston marked the first time Indiana played an away match in almost a month after traveling to the College of Charleston on March 18.
Related: [Indiana men’s tennis drops matches to Michigan State, Michigan in away doubleheader]
Indiana struggled from the start against Northwestern, losing the doubles point and all three doubles matches. In the singles round, the Hoosiers continued to struggle to grab points to mount a comeback.
Redshirt freshman Lara Schneider and Mejic both made strong efforts in their singles matches, taking the match into the third set. Schneider also made the first singles match close and almost gave Indiana an early point, but she fell to Northwestern senior Clarissa Hand 6-3, 6-3, 10-6. Mejic lost to graduate student Ema Lazic 7-5, 6-2, 11-9 in her singles match and was unable to pull out a point for Indiana.
Northwestern earned three more points in the singles matches for the overall 4-0 win. Indiana lost five singles matches and forfeited the sixth to close out the singles round. The Hoosiers were unable to earn any points or win a match against the Wildcats and lost 7-0, marking the fourth time the Hoosiers have been shut out this season.
Indiana will take a five-day break before traveling to College Park, Maryland to face the Maryland Terrapins on April 15.
