EVANSTON, Ill. - The No. 75 Michigan State women's tennis team concluded its season with a loss in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The eighth-seeded Spartans (17-9, 5-6 Big Ten) were bested by ninth-seeded Iowa on Thursday afternoon at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center in Evanston, Ill.

 

The Spartans dropped their fourth match in a row as Iowa was able to avenge its 4-3 loss to MSU earlier in the season on March 30.

 

MSU mixed up its doubles combinations but were unable to come away with the point in tightly contested doubles contests. All three doubles courts were sent to a tiebreaker. MSU lost the doubles point by one game and by a mere three individual points. On court one, senior Marina Bohrer and sophomore Emily Meyers were the first match to finish and they fell 8-7(4) to Ruth Seaborne and Morven McCulloch. Junior Catherine Parenteau and freshman Athena Trouillot evened up the doubles matches a one apiece as they defeated Shelby Talcott and Katie Zordani, 8-7(7), on court two. Parenteau and Trouillot fought off a pair of match points and were able to prevail with the victory.

 

The match would be decided on court three by freshman Erin Faulkner and senior Olga Chernova. The duo fell short in the tiebreaker to Ellen Silver and Annette Dohanics, losing 7-5, and MSU was down 1-0 early in the match.

 

In singles, MSU won three first sets but did not have enough to come back and win the four matches needed to claim the overall victory. After Parenteau lost her match on court two, Trouillot put the Spartans on the board with her 6-1, 7-5 win on court six over Ellen Silver. Trouillot finished the spring season with an 18-7 record.

 

Iowa jumped ahead 3-1 as Meyers lost on court four, 6-1, 7-6(3). Faulkner pulled the Spartans back to within one as she beat Morven McCulloch on court three in straight sets 7-6(3), 7-5.

 

Two seniors were left on the court for MSU and both of them would need to win for the Spartans to complete the comeback. Bohrer was leading in her match on court one, 6-3, 4-6, 2-0 but her match went unfinished as Chernova was defeated on court five 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, and Iowa clinched the match with its fourth point.

 

MSU finishes the 2013-14 season with a 17-9 record, including a 5-6 mark in the Big Ten. Both 17 overall wins and five conference wins are the second-most in school history since MSU won 18 overall and seven conference matches during the 1990-91 season.