THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s tennis team travels to West Lafayette, Indiana, to compete at the Purdue Invite on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Schwartz Tennis Center.
The Hawkeyes play singles and doubles matches against Purdue, Illinois and Michigan State (MSU). There will be no team scoring. Iowa and Michigan State meet Friday at 8 a.m. (CT). The Hawkeyes go up against Purdue on Saturday at 1 p.m., followed by Illinois on Sunday at 8 a.m. (CT).
ABOUT THE EVENT
The Purdue Invite takes place Jan. 29-31, 2021 with all matches being played indoors. The invite will run similar to a fall team tournament. There will be no team scoring, only individual/double scoring. Live scoring is unavailable, but there will be live cameras for all matches through PlaySight at Purdue’s official athletics website: https://purduesports.com/sports/2019/1/7/womens-tennis-livestream.aspx.
ON IOWA
The Hawkeyes are coming into the invite with two matches under their belt, having previously competed against No. 3 Texas and No. 20 Arizona State last weekend at the ITA Kickoff in Austin, Texas.
NOEL RECOGNIZED IN ITA TENNIS RANKINGS
Freshman Alexa Noel is ranked No. 97 in singles and No. 7 among the top 10 newcomers in the International Tennis Association preseason singles and newcomers rankings.
Noel, a freshman from Summit, New Jersey, ended her high school career ranked No. 4 in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings, as well capturing the 2019 USTA Girls 18s National Championships doubles title. She is the third freshman in program history to appear in the ITA national rankings. Sonja Molnar reached as high as No. 75 in 2009 and Sam Mannix was ranked No. 125 in 2019. The complete 2021 ITA preseason rankings are available at wearecollegetennis.com.
PURDUE BREAKDOWN
• Purdue is making its season debut.
• Iowa leads the all-time series against Purdue, 26-25, and won the last meeting in 2019, 4-1.
MICHIGAN STATE BREAKDOWN
• Michigan State is making its season debut.
• Iowa leads the all-time series against Michigan State, 33-17. The Spartans were the only Big Ten team Iowa was able to face in 2020 before the Covid shutdown. Iowa won the match, 4-3, on March 8, 2020.
ILLINOIS BREAKDOWN
• Illinois is making its season debut.
• Illinois leads the all-time series, 25-29.
• Illinois lineup includes No. 107 Asuka Kawai
FOLLOW THE HAWKEYES
Fans can follow the Iowa women’s tennis team on Facebook and via Twitter @Iowa_Tennis. Results from this weekend will be available on the Iowa women’s tennis schedule page at hawkeyesports.com.