West Virginia Mountaineers
4-6
Morgantown, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s tennis team opened the match by taking the doubles point, but ultimately fell to Indiana, 4-3, in Bloomington, Indiana, at the IU Tennis Center on Saturday.
“We had a solid doubles showing today and fought back well in the singles matches,” fourth-year coach Miha Lisac said.
WVU opened the match with a solid start, winning all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point. Junior Lyn Yuen Choo and sophomore Paula Goetz kicked off the day by defeating Indiana’s Paula Gutierrez and Pauline Jahren, 6-2, on court No. 3.
In the upset of the afternoon, senior Kaja Mrgole and Christina Jordan knocked off No. 19 ranked Madison Appel and Kim Schmider on the first court to secure the doubles point for the Mountaineers. In the final doubles bout, the tandem of junior Habiba Shaker and freshman Sofía Duran topped Caitlin Bernard and Natalie Whalen, 7-5, at No. 2.
“In doubles Kaja (Mrgole) and Christina (Jordan) were able to close out well at the end of the set,” Lisac continued. “Habiba (Shaker) and Sofia (Duran) and Paula (Goetz) and Lyn Yuen (Choo) bounced back well after the start of doubles.”
However, the momentum of the West Virginia doubles victory did not last long, as the Hoosiers picked up victories in the first three singles matches to take the advantage over the Mountaineers 3-1. Mrgole fell to Gutierrez in two sets, 6-3 and 6-3, at No. 2. Indiana’s Whalen then dropped Jordan, 6-4 and 6-4, at No. 4 made the overall team score, 2-1. At No. 5, Choo fell to Schmider, 6-4 and 6-2.
Duran picked up the first singles victory of the afternoon for the Mountaineers when she dropped Alicia Robinson, 6-2 and 7-5, to push the team score to 3-2. Indiana would then go on to clinch the match when Bernard defeated Goetz in a close second set tiebreaker (6-2 and 7-6 (8-6) at No. 5.
At No. 1, Shaker closed out the match by defeating Appel in a three set tiebreaker 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10) to make the final score 4-3.
The Mountaineers will open Big 12 Conference play with a road trip to Iowa State on Saturday, March 11. First serve is slated to begin at 3 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. CT.
Singles Competition:
No. 1: Habiba Shaker (WVU) def. Madison Appel (IND) - 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-1)
No. 2: Paula Gutierrez (IND) def. Kaja Mrgole (WVU) - 6-3, 6-3
No. 3: Caitlin Bernard (IND) def. Paula Goetz (WVU) - 6-2, 7-6 (8-6)
No. 4: Natalie Whalen (IND) def. Christina Jordan (WVU) - 6-3, 6-4
No. 5: Kim Schmider (IND) def. Lyn Yuen Choo (WVU) - 6-4, 6-2
No. 6: Sofia Duran (WVU) def. Alicia Robinson (IND) - 6-2, 7-5
Doubles competition:
No. 1: Christina Jordan/Kaja Mrgole (WVU) def. #19 Madison Appel/Kim Schmider (IND) - 6-4
No. 2: Sofia Duran/Habiba Shaker (WVU) def. Caitlin Bernard/Natalie Whalen (IND) - 7-5
No. 3: Lyn Yuen Choo/Paula Goetz (WVU) def. Paula Gutierrez/Pauline Jahren (IND) - 6-2
Order of Finish: Doubles (3, 1, 2); Singles (2, 4, 5, 6, 3, 1)
