Coming off competitive matches in the Midwest Invite, the battle-tested No. 15 Maroons will look to put together a magical run as they move toward the end of their season. This past weekend in St. Louis, Chicago went 2–1 to improve their record to 2–3 in league play and 10–9 overall.
Chicago started off Saturday with a rematch against rival No. 11 Wash U (15–4, 3–2) with the teams splitting the previous two matches. “It was a bit tougher facing Wash U this weekend dealing with illness and injury, but everyone fought really hard and you couldn’t ask for any more than that,” said fourth-year Maggie Schumann.
The Maroons fought hard but were unable to overcome early deficits in doubles, eventually losing 8–6 at No. 1 doubles, 8–5 at No. 2 doubles, and 8–4 at No. 3 doubles. Despite getting swept in doubles, Chicago came out firing in singles with fourth-year Megan Tang and second-year Tiffany Chen quickly dominating their opponents at No. 2 and No. 4 singles respectively. In a back and forth affair, Wash U took 2 out of three three-set matches to win 6–3 overall, with first-year Jasmine Lee prevailing at No. 3 singles with a 6–2, 5–7, and 6–2 victory.
Just an hour after the tough loss, the battered Maroons regrouped to face No. 38 UT-Tyler (13–4, 5–0). “All of the girls competed not for themselves, but for each other and to pull out the wins this weekend was huge,” Schumann said.
The Maroons responded well after a loss for the second straight week with strong doubles play as first-year Ariana Iranpour and Tang won 8–3 at No. 1 doubles, Chen and first-year Courtney Warren won 8–1 at No. 2 doubles, and third-year Sruthi Ramaswami and Schumann won 8–4 at No. 3 doubles on their way to a 6–3 victory, with Iranpour, Chen, and Schumann winning handily at No. 1, 3, and 6 singles, respectively.
The Maroons ended the weekend on Sunday against No. 28 UW–Whitewater (18–4, 6–0). “I think our tough matches on Saturday helped us prepare for today… We had particularly close doubles matches, but made the necessary adjustments on all three courts and stayed aggressive throughout,” Ramaswami said.
With tight matches on all three courts, Chicago learned uts lessons from the previous day pulling out all three matches 8–6, 8–5, and 8–6 at No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 doubles, respectively. The Maroons put the pedal to the metal, sweeping in singles. They were led by Iranpour’s 6–0, 6–2 win at No. 1 singles; Chen’s 6–1, 6–0 victory at No. 3 singles, and third-year Stephanie Lee’s 6–2, 7–5 victory at No. 5 singles. The day ended with an impressive 9–0 overall victory.
“I think our spring break training trip really helped us become a closer team and improve how we compete… We have the potential for some great wins coming up,” Ramaswami said.
The Maroons have one more match next week before they head to Florida for the start of the UAA tournament, where they will look to start their postseason run and avenge their loss to Wash U.
The squad will kick off against Wheaton this Saturday at the Stagg Courts at 1 p.m.
