Feb. 15, 2011
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THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s tennis team will play two matches this weekend. On Saturday, the No. 48 Hawkeyes (2-3 overall) face Marquette (4-3 overall) in Milwaukee at 10 a.m. (CST). The match will be played at Helfaer Tennis Stadium. The Black and Gold will compete in Chicago against No. 34 DePaul (6-3 overall) at 1 p.m. (CST) on Sunday. The Blue Demons will host the Hawkeyes at the Lakeshore Athletic Club. Iowa is 1-1 on the road this season.
QUOTING HEAD COACH Katie Dougherty
“Marquette and Depaul are both very good teams and we’re going to need to compete and execute well. We’ve had two very productive and disciplined weeks of practice and I’m excited to see where we are this weekend.”
THE COMPETITION
Marquette is unranked by the ITA, but has a roster that includes Kelly Berry and Gillian Hush. Berry was tabbed by the ITA as one of the top 125 players in the country during the preseason while Hush was the team’s most valuable player a season ago. The Golden Eagles, who compete in the Big East Conference, are 4-3 overall on the season with all three of their defeats coming against ranked opponents (No. 45 Indiana, No. 50 Purdue and No. 71 Minnesota). Marquette is 4-1 at home this season after posting a 9-1 mark in 2010. Iowa topped Marquette last season in Iowa City, 6-1. DePaul, also of the Big East Conference, is ranked No. 34 by the ITA and enters the weekend with a 6-3 record. Their record includes a 3-0 home record. All three of their losses have also came versus ranked opponents (No. 4 North Carolina, No. 28 Illinois, No. 30 Virginia Commonwealth). DePaul has the No. 55 doubles duo the country, Karatina Milkovic and Gia McKnight. The Hawkeyes and the Blue Demons crossed paths once this season when both teams competed at the Wildcat Invitational Nov. 8-10. Only one match was played between the two schools. Iowa senior Alexis Dorr topped Christiana Raymond 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Iowa and DePaul also played in 2010. The Hawkeyes won 4-3 at home.
UNDEFEATED DUO ENTERS ITA RANKINGS
Junior Sonja Molnar and senior Jessica Young appeared in the ITA’s doubles rankings for the first time this season on Feb. 14. The duo debuted at No. 32 after posting a 2-0 record at the No. 1 position during a two match home stand. While competing against Miami (OH) on Feb. 4, the tandem topped Stephanie Danesis and Megan Martzolf 8-4. They followed that effort with an 8-3 win over Kansas State’s Karla Bonacic and Petra Niedermayerova on Feb. 6. The two victories improved the pair’s record to 4-0 overall. Their best win of the season came Jan. 30 versus Illinois when they won a 9-7 decision over the No. 15 ranked doubles team of Rachael White and Allison Falkin. Molnar also appeared at No. 81 in the ITA’s singles poll.
INSTANT IMPACT
Freshmen Jessica Cohen and Christina Harazin have both posted three wins during dual matches this season. The three wins ties them with junior Sonja Molnar for the team lead. Cohen and Harazin have also posted a 1-1 record in doubles at the No. 3 position.