HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i women's tennis team (3-6, 2-1 Big West) fell in a heartbreaker to Indiana (11-6, 1-1 Big Ten), 4-3 on Thursday afternoon at the UH Tennis Complex.
 
In doubles, IU won on Court #3 with Michelle McKamey and Somer Henry defeating Mayaan Sela and Alzbeta Houbova, 6-2. UH's No. 1 Petra Melounova and Nikola Dolakova evened things with a 6-3 win over Madison Appel and Jelly Bozovic. But the Hoosiers' No. 2, Natalie Whalen and Caitlin Bernard held off Michelle Pits and Roxanne Resma by a break, 6-4 to capture the early 1-0 lead.
 
The Rainbow Wahine then started their comeback. UH's No. 5 Resma nearly blanked McKamey. 6-0, 6-1 while No. 1 (119^th-ranked) Melounova knocked off Appel in straight-sets, 6-1, 6-4. Indiana then leapfrogged the 'Bows notching wins on the No. 3 and 2 courts. Pits knotted the match at 3-3 with a hard fought, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Bernard. The match then hinged on the No. 6 match between UH's Houbova and Indiana's Henry. The two split the first two sets, but Henry was able to outlast Houbova in a third set tiebreaker to clinch the match, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (1).
 
The Rainbow Wahine hit the road to take on Long Beach State in a Big West Conference match on Thursday, March 21. UH will then take on a pair of Pac-12 teams in the Bay Area against California on Saturday, March 23 and Stanford on Sunday, March 24.
 
Indiana 4, Hawaii 3 Mar 14, 2019
at Honolulu, HI (UH Tennis Complex)
 
Singles competition
1. #119 Petra Melounova (UH-W) def. Madison Appel (IND) 6-1, 6-4
2. Natalie Whalen (IND) def. Maayan Sela (UH-W) 6-2, 7-5
3. Caitlin Bernard (IND) def. Nikola Dolakova (UH-W) 6-3, 6-2
4. Michelle Pits (UH-W) def. Jelly Bozovic (IND) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Roxanne Resma (UH-W) def. Michelle McKamey (IND) 6-0, 6-1
6. Somer Henry (IND) def. Alzbeta Houbova (UH-W) 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1)
 
Doubles competition
1. Petra Melounova/Nikola Dolakova (UH-W) def. Madison Appel/Jelly Bozovic (IND) 6-3
2. Natalie Whalen/Caitlin Bernard (IND) def. Michelle Pits/Roxanne Resma (UH-W) 6-4
3. Michelle McKamey/Somer Henry (IND) def. Maayan Sela/Alzbeta Houbova (UH-W) 6-2 Match Notes:
 
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,1,3,2,4,6)