No. 54 Indiana started its SEC road trip with a dual match against No. 25 Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. at the Goodfriend Tennis Center. It was the Hoosiers' first match against a ranked opponent this season.
IU started out the match by winning the No. 2 doubles match. Sophomores Carolyn Chupa and Katie Klyczek defeated Tennessee's combination of Joanna Henderson/Caitlyn Williams 8-5.
The Lady Vols have the No. 3 doubles pair in the country of Brynn Boren and Kata Szekely. They topped IU's No. 44 combination of junior Sophie Garre and senior Leslie Hureau 8-5.
After the teams split the first two doubles matches, Indiana sophomores Alecia Kauss and Shannon Murdy competed with Tennessee's Sarah Toti and Mimi Fotopoulos for the doubles point. Kauss and Murdy battled back from an early deficit to win the match 9-7.
Tennessee tied the score when Hureau retired in the No. 1 singles match against No. 18 Boren 6-0, 1-0. Volunteers senior Szekely bested Klyczek 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 2 position.
Indiana picked up its first singles win when Murdy defeated Toti 6-0, 6-3 in the No. 6 match. The Hoosiers took a 3-2 lead and came within one point of the victory when Chupa topped Fotopoulos 6-3, 6-4.
The Volunteers tied the match at 3 when Williams knocked off Kauss 6-4, 7-6.
The No. 4 singles match was the only one that wasn't won in straight sets. Garre won the first set 6-4. Henderson bounced back and won the second set 6-1. Garre took a 3-2 lead in the tiebreaker but Henderson won the set 6-4, which gave Tennessee a 4-3 victory. It was Indiana's first loss of the season and they fall to 8-1.
IU has Saturday off and the Hoosiers will practice at the University of Kentucky in preparation for their match against the Wildcats at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.
