Hawkeyes Fall in Heartbreaker, 4-3

Feb. 9, 2014

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa women’s tennis team suffered its first home loss of the season with a heartbreaking loss to No. 74 DePaul at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center on Sunday. The Hawkeyes went toe-to-toe with the Blue Demons before falling 4-3.

“Hats off to DePaul, they are a very good team, well coached and their players are great fighters,” said UI head coach Katie Dougherty. “Today’s match really came down to a couple of points that unfortunately we were not able to convert on.”

The Hawkeyes got off to a quick start in doubles when junior Shelby Talcott and sophomore Annette Dohanics picked up a 6-1 win at the No. 3 slot. DePaul came back and posted wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions to give them the early 1-0 lead.

After falling behind 2-0, the Hawkeyes pulled out three-straight singles victories to take their first lead of the day, 3-2. Senior Ruth Seaborne and junior Morven McCulloch both won in straight sets at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. Talcott fell behind 3-0 in her first set against DePaul’s Kelsey Lawson before winning six-straight games. Talcott fell to Lawson in the second set, 4-6, before winning the tiebreaker, 10-8.

74th-ranked DePaul evened things back up at 3 when Rebeca Mitrea defeated Dohanics, 6-4, 6-7, 10-7, at the No. 6 position.

In the last match of the day, junior Katie Zordani was in a hole being down 5-2 before she came back to post a 7-6 victory in her first set at the No. 5 spot. Zordani fell in the second set, 4-6, and was defeated 10-5 in the tiebreaker.

“The team could not have battled any harder in singles,” said Dougherty. “We dug ourselves a hole with a flat doubles point that we could not recover from. We played much better in singles today than we have the entire spring.”

The Hawkeyes head north to Milwaukee, Wis. on Saturday, Feb. 15 for a matchup with Marquette University at 9 a.m. (CT). The Golden Eagles are 2-2 on the season.

“We have a short week preparing for Marquette and need to get back to work. This team has made a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks and we need to continue to get better,” said Dougherty.

No. 74 DePaul 4, Iowa 3

Singles
1. #56 Ruth Seaborne (IOWA) def. Patricia Fargas (DEPAUL) 6-4, 6-2
2. Morven McCulloch (IOWA) def. #52 Ana Vladutu (DEPAUL) 7-5, 6-2
3. Shelby Talcott (IOWA) def. Kelsey Lawson (DEPAUL) 6-3, 4-6, 10-8
4. Jasmin Kling (DEPAUL) def. Caitlin Hindmarsh (IOWA) 6-2, 6-2
5. Zaina Sufi (DEPAUL) def. Katie Zordani (IOWA) 6-7, 6-4, 10-5
6. Rebeca Mitrea (DEPAUL) def. Annette Dohanics (IOWA) 6-4, 6-7, 10-7

Order of finish: (4,2,1,3,6,5)

Doubles
1. Patricia Fargas/Ana Vladutu (DEPAUL) def. Ruth Seaborne/Morven McCulloch (IOWA) 6-2
2. Jasmin Kling/Kelsey Lawson (DEPAUL) def. Caitlin Hindmarsh/Katie Zordani (IOWA) 6-3
3. Annette Dohanics/Shelby Talcott (IOWA) def. Rebeca Mitrea/Zaina Sufi (DEPAUL) 6-1

Order of finish: (3,1,2)