Notes: No. 37 Iowa Hosts No. 28 Nebraska

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s tennis team plays is final home match of the season Sunday against No. 28 Nebraska. Action begins 11 a.m. (CT) at the Hawkeye Recreation and Tennis Complex. There will be no fans allowed at either matches due to COVID-19 restrictions. Fans can follow along through live stream or live stats, which are available on Iowa women’s tennis schedule page.

ON IOWA
The Hawkeyes enter the week 8-4 in the Big Ten. The eight conference wins is the most by a Hawkeye team since 2006 (9). Iowa is 6-2 at home this season and winners of two straight. The Hawkeyes defeated No. 49 Wisconsin, 4-3, in a back-and-forth battle on March 19, and defeated Minnesota, 4-3, on March 21.

IOWA EARNS SPOT IN ITA RANKINGS
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association released updated team rankings March 24. The Hawkeyes are ranked No. 37. It marks the Hawkeyes’ highest team ranking Iowa was ranked No. 30 in 2011.

NOEL AND VAN HEUVELEN EARN ITA SINGLES RANKINGS
Freshman Alexa Noel earned a No. 24 ranking and senior Elise van Heuvelen earned a No. 76 ranking in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings on March 24. Noel’s ranking is the highest of any singles player in the history of Iowa Women’s Tennis. Noel is 18-0 this season and has won 16 of those 18 matches in straight sets, all at the No. 1 position. Van Heuvelen’s ranking is the highest ranking of her career. Van Heuvelen is 12-4 playing No. 2 singles and 13-4 at No. 2 doubles.
The March 24 ITA rankings mark the first time two Hawkeyes have been ranked in the regular season since Meg Racette and Milica Veselinovic were ranked 35th and 80th, respectively, in 2006.

VAN HEUVELEN MAKES HISTORY
Senior Elise van Heuvelen Treadwell ranks fifth all-time in singles wins (88) and ties for second all-time in doubles wins (81). She has 169 combined singles and doubles wins, which ties Sonja Molnar for fourth all-time. Van Heuvelen trails Hillary Mintz for first place all-time in doubles wins (93), which is Iowa’s all-time leader. Van Heuvelen’s .664 career winning percentage in singles is fourth all-time among Hawkeyes with more than 100 career matches.

UNDEFEATED RECORD
Freshman Alexa Noel is 18-0 playing at the No. 1 singles position. She has won 16 of 18 matches in straight sets, including the last 10. She is also 11-5 overall in doubles, teaming with Samantha Mannix at the No. 1 spot. Noel is ranked No. 24 in the ITA singles rankings, the highest of any Hawkeye i program history. 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 rankings are available at wearecollegetennis.com.

NOEL EARNS BIG TEN ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Alexa Noel earned her second Big Ten weekly honor on the week of March 23 when she was named Big Ten Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week. A native of Summit, New Jersey, Noel improved to 18-0 overall and 12-0 in the Big Ten following a pair of straight-set wins last weekend against Wisconsin and Minnesota. She won 24 of 27 sets at the No. 1 singles position, defeating Wisconsin’s Ava Markham 6-1, 6-0, and Minnesota’s Rachel Hanford 6-1, 6-1. Noel has won 16 of her 18 matches in straight sets, all at the No. 1 position. The Big Ten honor is the second of Noel’s career. She was previously recognized Feb. 16. She is just the sixth Hawkeye in program history to win multiple weekly conference honors. Her teammate, senior Elise van Heuvelen, is one of the other six.

DYNAMIC DUO
Senior Elise van Heuvelen and Junior Samantha Gillas have a 13-2 record in doubles at the No. 2 spot. Their only losses come from No. 8 Northwestern’s Clarissa Hand and Christina Hand. The pair went on a six-game winning streak before their match went unfinished on the week of March 13.

NEBRASKA BREAKDOWN
• Nebraska is ranked No. 28 in the ITA National Rankings
• Nebraska is 9-3 overall and in the B1G
• Nebraska won 4-2 in the last meeting in 2019
• Iowa leads the all-time series, 18-10
• Kristina Novak is unbeaten in her last three singles matches

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.