BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Bellarmine women's tennis dropped a pair of matches in Bloomington, Ind. on Saturday against Western Michigan and Indiana.
 
The Broncos and Hoosiers both topped the short-handed Knights 4-0, with play stopping once the matches were decided.
 
Bellarmine was without wins-leader and no.1 singles player Ekaterina Tikhonko.  The Knights also had to forfeit the no. 6 singles slot in both matches.
 
In the first match against Western Michigan, Madison Devillez and Rose Pastoret battled valiantly in no. 1 doubles, but came up short 6-4.  That still left Knights Head Coach Brian Slack encouraged.
 
"We had two tough matches today," Slack said.  "It was a great opportunity for our women to come out and compete against teams out of the MAC and Big Ten.  We came out against Western Michigan ready to compete.  We played well in doubles but just couldn't win some big points late.  In singles, we competed really well throughout the lineup.  I was happy with how we played knowing we were playing another match immediately afterwards."
 
In the second match of the day, Indiana set the tone early in doubles and carried that to a sweep.
 
"IU came out and took it to us in doubles," Slack added.  "They came out with energy and a purpose from the first point.  In singles, they played the type of tennis we talk about and work on in practice.  We got better today playing against these two teams, and we look forward to our match tomorrow morning back at home against Saint Louis."

Bellarmine's home match on Sunday with Saint Louis begins at 9:00 a.m. at the Eddie Weber Tennis Complex.

For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights) and Facebook (BUKnights).