IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa freshman Alexa Noel has been selected to compete at the 2021 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships on May 23-28 in Orlando, Florida. The 2021 NCAA Championships are hosted by Central Florida at the USTA National Campus.
Noel earned the Big Ten’s automatic qualifier and is a seeded entrant, guaranteeing her All-America honors. She is the third player in program history to make the singles draw at the NCAA Championships, and the first All-American in program history. Toni Neykova played at the 2002 NCAA Championships and Meg Racette competed in 2006.
Noel enters the tournament 23-0. She ran the table during the Big Ten season, winning all 23 matches at the No. 1 singles position. She was named Big Ten Conference Player and Freshman of the Year on May 3, becoming the first Hawkeyes in program history to each conference player of the year honors. Noel has been ranked as high as No. 13 nationally, the highest ranking of any player in program history.
“It is an amazing accomplishment for Alexa to be selected,” said Iowa head coach Sasha Schmid. “I know she is going to work hard in the next couple weeks to be prepared to make a run at a national championship for the Hawkeyes.”
The Iowa women’s tennis team finished the season 13-7 overall this season. The Hawkeyes won a school record 12 Big Ten Conference matches and reached the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament as the No. 4 seed. The Hawkeyes climbed as high as No. 37 in the ITA team rankings this season, its highest ranking since 2011.
“We were heartbroken to have not received an at-large entry into the team NCAA tournament. I really felt like our team was deserving and it is heartbreaking for the team to end the season,” said Schmid. “I am proud of wheat we accomplished as a group and we want to celebrate our seniors and will always remember the successes we shared as a team. We are now looking forward to Alexa’s run in the NCAA singles championship.”
All matches will be best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a 7-point tiebreaker (first to seven points must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for matches.
