Indiana women’s tennis lost 5-0 to No. 24 Wisconsin on Friday in Madison, WI. The Hoosiers ended the regular season 14-10 overall and 4-7 in the Big Ten.
In doubles play, the Hoosiers were swept and lost the doubles point. Indiana’s No. 1 double — sophomore Lara Schneider and graduate student Saby Nihalani — were defeated 6-2 to Wisconsin's senior No. 58 Ava Markham and freshman No. 75 Maria Sholokhova.
Schneider and Nihalani dropped to 10-7 overall, including a disappointing 2-6 in the Big Ten, when playing together. The No. 1 double is now 4-6 in the last ten matches and ended the regular season on a two-game losing streak.
At No. 2, Indiana redshirt junior Alexandra Staiculescu and freshman Nicole Teodosescu fell 6-1 to Badgers senior No. 125 Xinyu Cai and No. 82 junior Alina Mukhortova. The Hoosiers’ No. 2 lost its final three games and ended the regular season 1-4 overall and in the Big Ten.
No. 3 redshirt junior Xiaowei "Rose" Hu and graduate student Lauren Lemonds lost 6-1 to Badgers’ senior Charmaine Seah and sophomore Taylor Cataldi. The Hoosier double played together twice in this last stretch of the season and lost both matches.
The Hoosiers finished the regular season 11-11 in doubles point, but the record does not tell the whole story. In the first 11 games, the Hoosiers went 8-3 in doubles play, but in the last 11 games, they went 3-8.
None of the first 11 games were against Big Ten opponents while 10 of the last 11 games were. The second half of the season was harder, and it was important for the Hoosiers to start each match strong by winning the doubles point, but that’s not what happened.
Starting from behind puts more pressure on each player as they head for singles play, and getting the doubles point means more room for mistakes, which can be crucial in games against tougher opponents like No. 3 Michigan, No. 24 Wisconsin and No. 54 Purdue.
In singles, Indiana lost four straight and Wisconsin came out with the overall victory. At No. 4, Staiculescu lost 6-0 and 6-1 to Wisconsin’s Cataldi, ending the season with a 5-15 record, including 3-7 in the conference, and on a three-game losing streak.
No. 2 Nihalani fell 6-3 and 6-1 to Wisconsin’s Sholokhova, which brought her down to 10-7 overall, 3-5 in the Big Ten and extended her losing streak to two games. The Hoosiers’ No. 2 had a rough stretch towards the end of the season, finishing 2-6 in the last ten games.
At No. 5, Teodosescu was defeated 6-4 and 6-3 by Wisconsin’s Cai, which puts the Indiana freshman at 8-6 overall and 5-4 in the Big Ten. Despite ending the season with a loss, Teodosescu is 6-3 in the last ten games and sits alongside Schneider as the only players with a winning record in the stretch.
Despite Wisconsin taking the win, Hoosiers’ No. 3 redshirt junior Mila Mejic was in a tough battle against Badgers’ Mukhortova in the second set, so the coaches decided to let them play. The match ended in a 6-2 and 7-6 (7-2) loss for Mejic, who dropped to 11-10 overall and 3-6 in the conference. With the loss, the Hoosiers’ No. 3 finished the season on a three-game losing streak and with a record of 4-5 in the last ten games.
No. 6 Hu and No. 1 Schneider were both battling hard against Badgers’ Seah and Markham, respectively. Both matches went unfinished after Wisconsin took the win. Hu ended the season with an overall record of 6-7, 2-4 in the conference and 3-5 in the last ten games.
Schneider finished the season with the best overall (12-4) and Big Ten (5-2) record on the team. She also did well in the last ten games of the season, winning five and losing two matches during the stretch.
The Hoosiers are now 34-9 against the Badgers historically but have lost the last three matchups, with their last win being a 6-1 victory in 2017.
With the loss on the road, Indiana finished with a 6-6 away record this season. At home, the Hoosiers went 8-4.
Indiana now looks ahead to the Big Ten Tournament, where its first game is against No. 6 Iowa. The Hoosiers play the Hawkeyes in West Lafayette on Thursday.
