To California and Back with Jessica Young

March 25, 2010

Iowa tennis fans will be able to follow members of the Hawkeye tennis team as they blog about the 2010 season . The Iowa student-athletes will discuss the Hawkeyes’ upcoming matches, road trips and what it’s like being a student-athlete at the University of Iowa. Junior Jessica Young is this week’s designated blogger.

IOWA CITY, IA – Hi Hawkeye Fans!! We have had a lot going on since our last blog, including big wins against Depaul, Missouri, Tulsa and Wichita State. Depaul is our biggest win of the season so far and we have continued to get better and better since then. After Depaul and Missouri we spent a lot of time preparing for our spring break trip to PALM SPRINGS! The preparation was not the most fun considering we had to practice outside when the weather wasn’t up to par and wear long sleeve shirts under our t-shirts for practice. Coach Katie had the idea to get us used to the heat by making us sweat and although it was pretty uncomfortable, it paid off!

Our spring break trip was interesting to say the least. We first flew into San Diego, CA then drove to Palm Springs, CA. We practiced the two days that we didn’t have matches, which was nice because we had a chance to get used to the AMAZING SUN and the heat. In our down time we got to go to the Indian Wells professional tournament, where we got to see Andy Roddick, John Isner, Sam Querry and many other amazing professionals.

By March 18 we were ready for our first match of the trip against Wichita State. There were some ups and downs to the match, but our team managed to pull out the victory, 6-1. Kelcie and I each had long matches, and it was obvious by our very red looking faces that lasted the whole trip.

Our second and final match of the trip was against #33 Tulsa. We knew that was going to be a tough match and we prepared ourselves to stay out on the court as long as possible. We won the doubles point but found ourselves down 3-2 with two singles matches to go. Merel and Alexis were our only two girls left playing and they both pulled through in three sets! We were so proud of them and, luckily for Kelcie and me, they were the ones that looked like tomatoes that day!

The trip was a huge success and at that point we thought the trip was over, but no! Little did we know that a flat tire and our pit stop at In and Out Burger (our prize for competing well) would cause a slight panic about making our 10:45 pm flight, but fortunately we made it! We arrived back in Iowa City at about 10:00 am the next morning, all grumpy and ready to sleep for the rest of the day.

This week we recently moved up seven spots in the rankings from #25 to #18 (highest in school history) and we are very excited, but we continue to practice hard in order to get ready for #6 MICHIGAN and Big Ten Rival MICHIGAN STATE! Come cheer us on! (BE LOUD)

Click HERE to check out past entries to the Official Iowa Women’s Tennis Blog.