Indiana University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Coach Mary Louise Eltz’s dominant squad is being inducted in the team category, a just reward for its 12-0 season.

But like the tip of an iceberg, that record reveals only a fraction of the whole story. The Indians, as they were then known, regularly rid opponents of any hope and matches of all suspense. They didn’t just beat foes—they annihilated them. IUP went 35-1 in singles play and 24-0 in doubles that fall, and surrendered only six of 124 sets played.

The Indians’ invincibility was notable given the odds against them. The program did not offer scholarships, facilities were woefully inadequate and they didn’t even have official uniforms. Players simply wore their own dresses, some of which had been made by their mothers.

Not that it mattered. Eltz molded her team into a juggernaut. Marcy Schwam and Cheryl Mistrick led the Indians with 12-0 records in singles and Terri Cook was 8-0. In doubles, Beth Johnson (11-0), Barb Beatty (8-0), Lynn Roser (8-0), Anna Marie Raglani (7-0) and Sue Hughes (6-0) turned back every challenge.

The lone blemish occurred in a season-opening 4-1 victory over Chatham when Cook, the team’s top player, was a late scratch after injuring her ankle in warm-ups. Eltz was forced to insert Jan Frissora, a doubles specialist, into the No. 1 singles slot. She lost 7-5, 6-1.

The Indians would defeat every subsequent opponent by a 5-0 score. One of the highlights of their season was a rout of rival Slippery Rock before a raucous crowd on the Rockets’ home courts. IUP won every match in straight sets.

Eltz’s Indians crushed Slippery Rock in the rematch two weeks later to improve to 10-0, thumped California and then wrapped up a perfect season at Edinboro with their 11th consecutive 5-0 victory, overcoming bitter cold and swirling snow.

Like every one of the Indians’ previous opponents that season, the Scots were no match for perhaps the most dominant team in IUP history.