THIS WEEK
No. 71 University of Iowa women’s tennis team remains on the road, traveling to Denver, Colorado, to face the Denver Pioneers on Friday. The match is set to start at 2 p.m. (CT) at the Denver Tennis Park. Fans can follow along via Denver’s live scoring at https://bit.ly/3sWgLzB. Iowa will remian in Colorado, traveling to Boulder to face the Buffaloes on Sunday. The match is scheduled to start at 11 p.m. (CT) inside the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center. Fans can follow along on Colorado’s live stats at https://bit.ly/33C9agX.
ON IOWA
No. 71 Iowa enters next week’s competition with a 4-2 record. The Hawkeyes recorded their fourth win of the season over Missouri on Feb. 15th. Iowa recorded five single wins after losing the doubles point to the Tigers. No. 118 freshman Marisa Schmidt captured her fourth singles win againist Bronte Murgett in straight sets at the No. 1 spot. Senior Samatha Mannix battled at the No. 2 spot to come away with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6) win to give Iowa its fifth point. Sophomore Viapsha Mehra, freshman Barbora Pokorna and senior Samantha Gillas all recorded wins from the fourth, fifth, and sixth spot to register the win over the Tigers.
SCHMIDT’S SUCCESS
No. 118 freshman Marisa Schmidt moved up to the No. 1 spot and registered her fourth win over Missouri’s Bronte Murgett in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) on Feb. 15. The German native bounced Mississippi State’s No. 50 Emmanouela Antonaki in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) at the No. 2 spot on Jan. 29 at the ITA Kickoff Weekend. Schmidt made her collegiate tennis debut going 4-0 overall at the No. 1 and No. 2 spot in both singles and doubles in Iowa’s home opener against Drake and Marquette on Jan. 16.
2 HAWKEYES NATIONALLY RANKED
Sophomore Alexa Noel is ranked No. 5 and freshman Marisa Schmidt is No. 118 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s national rankings. The rankings are a result of individual competition that took place last fall and the start of spring competition beginning last month. Noel has been ranked as high as No. 3, which is the highest ranking of any player in program history. The Summit, New Jersey, native won seven matches in the fall, including notching a win over both the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked players in the nation. Noel faced top-ranked Eryn Cayetano of USC and second-ranked Sarah Hamner of South Carolina twice each this fall, going 1-1 against both players. Noel bounced Cayetano in the semifinals of the ITA All-American Championships in South Carolina and Hamner in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Fall Championships in California.
IOWA NEWCOMERS
Freshmen Barbora Pokorna, Marisa Schmidt, and Olivia Weiss are all making their spring debut for the Hawkeyes.
• Pokorna, who is from the Czech Republic, was a singles winner at U18 regional championship, a doubles semifinalist, at the U18 National championships, a two-time doubles finalist at the U14 national championship, and nationally ranked inside the top 10 each year for players born in 2001.
• Schmidt, the native from Germany, ascended as high as No. 63 this past year in the German National Women’s Open Rankings and has been ranked in the Top 20 Junior Rankings. Schmidt is the U21 champion and women’s open-runner in the Baden-Wuerttemberg Championships.
• Weiss, born and raised in Michigan, was a five-star recruit and ranked No. 55 in the class of 2021 nationally by tennisrecruiting.net. She won four singles and 10 doubles tournaments on the USTA national level. She competed at No. 1 singles for two years at Royal Oak High School and was a two-time all-state honoree and two-time Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
DENVER BREAKDOWN
• Denver is 2-4 on the season, losing to two ranked teams, No. 16 Washington and No. 24 Baylor.
• Iowa has an overall record of 0-4 against the Pioneers.
• Denver was selected as preseason favorites in the Summit League, coming off of their seventh straight Summit League
tournament in 2021.
• The Pioneers fell in the first round of the 2021 NCAA tournamnet to No. 2 Texas.
COLORADO BREAKDOWN
• Colorado is 3-3 this season, winning their last three matches.
• The Hawkeyes lead the overall series against the Buffaloes, 5-3.
• Freshman Mila Stanojevic has won her last 13-straight single matches.
• Five players have at least a .500 recordor better in singles play; Mila Stanojevic, Betina Tokac, Antonia Balzert, Caroline Pozo, Megan Forster
IOWA TO HOST 2022 BIG TEN WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
The University of Iowa has been selected to host the 2022 Big Ten Women’s Tennis Championships. The event will take place April 27 through May 1 at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex. The last time Iowa hosted the conference tournament was 2010.
FOLLOW THE HAWKEYES
Fans can follow the Iowa women’s tennis team on Facebook and via Twitter @Iowa_Tennis. Results from each match is available on the Iowa women’s tennis schedule page at hawkeyesports.com.