Indiana women’s tennis won on the road against University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Friday morning. The Hoosiers defeated the Runnin’ Rebels 4-3, boosted by earning four straight singles matches.
In their first matchup since 2005, the Hoosiers got their first win ever against UNLV, who won all other four previous matchups.
In the doubles, both No. 2 redshirt junior Mila Mejic and freshman Nicole Teodosescu and No. 3 redshirt juniors Alexandra Staiculescu and Xiaowei "Rose" Hu lost 6-1, which granted Las Vegas the point.
The No. 2 doubles have yet to win a game when they play together, being 0-2 for now. On the other hand, despite the 2-game losing streak right now, the No. 3 doubles still has a positive record of 6-4 this season.
No. 1 doubles sophomore Lara Schneider and graduate student Saby Nihalani were up 4-3 but had their game unfinished.
For the singles, the Hoosiers showed up to make up for the lost doubles point.
At No. 5, Teodosescu won 6-1 and 6-0 against Runnin’ Rebel junior Aura Fang to start things off for the Hoosiers. She improved to 5-3 this season and is now on a 3-game winning streak.
No. 3 Mejic put the Hoosiers ahead overall, defeating sophomore Cindy Hu 6-2 and 6-4. Mejic extended her winning streak to three and is now 10-5 in singles this season.
Hu extended the lead for the Hoosiers with a 6-2 and 6-2 win at No. 6 against junior Nina Zdravkovic.
Indiana secured the win with No. 1 Schneider defeating junior Zita Kovacs 6-0, 2-6 and 7-5. The Hoosiers’ No. 1 single is now 10-2 this season and improved to an 8-game winning streak.
Despite the win, the teams decided to let the other games go the distance. No. 4 Staiculescu lost 6-4, 0-6 and 7-6 to sophomore Coco Zhao, and No. 2 Nihalani lost 6-7, 6-2 and 6-4 to junior Salsa Aher.
With the loss, Nihalani stays behind with nine wins while Mejic and Schneider take the co-lead for wins with 10 this season. The No. 2 is also on a 2-game losing streak now.
Indiana looks ahead to a series of Big Ten games, starting with Penn State.
The Hoosiers will play Penn State in University Park on Sunday, March 26.
Follow reporter Leo Paes (@Leordpaes) for updates throughout the match and the rest of the Indiana women’s tennis season.
