Indiana women’s tennis lost to West Virginia University 4-3 in a tight match Saturday afternoon in Bloomington.
The first match ended with the No. 2 doubles, Hoosiers’ redshirt- junior Mila Mejic and graduate student Lauren Lemonds, losing 6-3.
The second match was a dominant win by Indiana’s No. 3 doubles, redshirt-junior Alexandra Staiculescu and redshirt -junior Xiaowei "Rose" Hu, staying ahead the whole match and finishing 6-3.
For the doubles point, Hoosiers’ No. 1 doubles sophomore Lara Schneider and graduate student Saby Nihalani played an exciting match full of lead changes. Losing 6-5, the Hoosiers took it to tie-break after being down 40-0. In the tie-break, they led 6-4 but couldn’t hang onto the lead, and lost 9-7 to the Mountaineers.
In the singles matches, Indiana started behind, losing at No. 4, but Mejic effortlessly won and brought the Hoosiers back to the game. The Mountaineers won at No. 3, but Schneider won to give the Hoosiers a last chance to win.
It came down to No. 6 Hu to keep the Hoosiers alive. In a very close game, she lost 6-4 and 7-5, granting the Mountaineers the win.
Indiana’s No. 2 Nihalani won 6-1 and 7-6 (6-1), her second straight singles match won in tie-break.
Indiana will travel for the first time this season, to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, on Feb. 3.
