THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s tennis team travels to Manhattan, Kansas, to face Kanas State on Friday. The match is set to start at 12 p.m. (CT) at Mike Goss Tennis Stadium. Fans can follow along via Kansas State’s live stats, which can be found on the women’s tennis schedule page on hawkeyesports.com. The Hawkeyes then return to Iowa City for their B1G opener against No. 45 University of Minnesota. The match is set to start 12 p.m. on Monday, March 7 at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. Admission is free. Fans can follow along on StatBroadcast or Playsight, which can be found on the women’s tennis schedule page at hawkeyesports.com.
ON IOWA
Iowa enters this week’s competition with a 4-4 record. The Hawkeyes suffered road losses at No. 58 Denver and Colorado. Senior Michelle Bacalla and sophomore Barboro Pokorna captured two doubles wins this past week to improve to 4-1 as a doubles pair. Sophomore Vipasha Mehra and senior Samantha Mannix went 1-1, their lone loss being determined by a tie-breaking set.
Freshman Marisa Schmidt improved to 5-2 with a win against Colorado’s Caroline Pozo in three sets at the No. 1 spot. Schmidt is 3-2 playing at the No. 1 singles spot and 2-0 at No. 2. Mannix recorded her third singles win of the season after sweeping Taylor Melville at the No. 2 spot against Denver. Mannix has two wins at the No. 2 singles position and is 1-1 at the top spot.
SCHMIDT’S SUCCESS
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.
Freshman Barbora Pokorna is 4-1 overall with wins at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, and a pair of wins at No. 6 singles. Iowa’s freshman are a combined 9-3 in singles play.
NOEL CLIMBS NATIONAL RANKINGS
Sophomore Alexa Noel is ranked No. 3 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.
KANSAS STATE BREAKDOWN
• The Wildcats are 4-3 on the season, their most recent loss being to No. 28. Washington.
• Iowa has an overall record of 8-3 against the Wildcats. Iowa won the last meeting in 2020, 4-3, against No. 50 KSU.
• Iowa has not won at Kansas State since 2010, 6-1.
• Two Kansas State players are ranked in ITA Singles Collegiate Tennis Rankings – Karine-Marion Job is ranked No. 96 and Rosanna Maffei is ranked No. 108.
• The Wildcats starting lineup is composed of four seniors and two freshmen.
MINNESOTA BREAKDOWN
• The Gophers are 11-2 on the season, their two losses being against No. 26 Alabama and No. 33 Utah.
• Iowa has an overall 22-42 overall record against the Gophers and has won the last two meetings.
• University of Minnesota is ranked 45 in the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, which marks their highest ranking since 2012.
• The Gophers have three wins over currently ranked teams, No. 65 Washington State, No. 70 Memphis, and No. 74 Florida Gulf Coast.
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.