Notebook: No. 39 Iowa Faces Rutgers and Maryland

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s tennis team returns to Big Ten play after an idle week and travels to New Brunswick, New Jersey, to face Rutgers on Friday. Action begins 12 p.m. (CT) at the East Brunswick Racquet Club. The Hawkeyes then head to Maryland to face the Terrapins on Sunday at 11 a.m. 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 can be found on both team schedule pages or Twitter.

ON IOWA
The Hawkeyes enter the week 9-4 in the Big Ten. The nine conference wins ties the most by a Hawkeye team since 2006 (9). Iowa is 7-2 at home this season and winners of three straight. The Hawkeyes defeated No. 28 Nebraska, 4-2, in their last home match of the season on March 28, 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 April 7. The Hawkeyes are ranked No. 39. Iowa was previously ranked No. 37 on March 24, 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. 20 ranking and senior Elise van Heuvelen earned a No. 87 ranking in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings on March 30. Noel’s ranking is the highest of any singles player in the history of Iowa Women’s Tennis. Noel is 19-0 this season and has won 17 of those 19 matches in straight sets, all at the No. 1 position. Van Heuvelen is 13-4 playing No. 2 singles and 13-5 at No. 2 doubles.
This season marks 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 ties for fifth all-time in singles wins (89) and ties for second all-time in doubles wins (81). She has 170 combined singles and doubles wins, which ties Laura Dvorak for third 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 19-0 playing at the No. 1 singles position. She has won 17 of 19 matches in straight sets, including the last 10. She is also 11-6 overall in doubles, teaming with Samantha Mannix at the No. 1 spot. Noel is ranked No. 20 in the ITA singles rankings, the highest of any Hawkeye in 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. 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 17 of her 19 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.

RUTGERS BREAKDOWN
• Rutgers is 3-10 overall in 2-10 in the B1G
• Iowa won 6-1 in the last meeting in 2019
• Iowa leads the all-time series, 3-0
• Tess Fisher is on a two-game win streak in singles at the No. 2 spot

MARYLAND BREAKDOWN
• Maryland is 1-12 overall and 1-11 in the B1G
• Iowa won 6-1 in the last meeting in 2019
• Maryland leads the overall series, 4-1
• Ayana Akli is ranked No. 30
• Eva Alexandrova is ranked No. 114
• Ayana Akli and Eva Alexandrova are ranked No. 76 in doubles

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.