THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s tennis team will host its first two matches of the 2023 season this weekend at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes will challenge Denver on Friday at 5 p.m., followed by Kansas State on Sunday at noon. Admission is free for both matches.
ON IOWA
The Hawkeyes split their first two matches of the season at Charlotte and Furman. Charlotte beat Iowa, but the Hawkeyes were able to rebound with a victory at Furman. Despite the 7-0 defeat at Charlotte, Schmidt, Pokorna, and Hayashida pushed their respective singles matches to three sets. At Furman, Iowa captured the doubles point courtesy of Daianne Hayashida/Vipasha Mehra and Anya Lamoreaux/Marisa Schmidt. In singles, Marisa Schmidt, Barbora Pokorna, and Hayashida each posted straight-set wins.
DOUBLES TEAM RANKED
The doubles team of Anya Lamoreaux and Vipasha Mehra enter the spring season ranked No. 45 nationally.
FORMER HAWKEYE RETURNS
Former Hawkeye Elise van Heuvelen Treadwell was hired in December as assistant coach. Van Heuvelen Treadwell joins the Hawkeye coaching staff after serving as an assistant coach at Delaware since January 2022. She began her coaching career the Fall 2021 semester as a volunteer assistant coach with the Hawkeyes.
Van Heuvelen Treadwell concluded her Hawkeye career in the spring of 2021, as one of the most decorated women’s tennis student-athletes in Iowa and Big Ten history. Achieving an individual rank within the top-100 nationally in both singles and doubles, Van Heuvelen Treadwell ranks second all-time at Iowa with 180 combined wins. She was named first-team All-Big Ten five times and was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2017.
In her final year, Van Heuvelen Treadwell earned the ITA Central Region Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award. The East Sussex, England, native was also named the ITA Central Regional Senior Player of the Year in 2020 and was the ITA Summer National Doubles Champion in 2019.
SCOUTING DENVER
• Denver opened its season with home wins over Colorado State and Colorado.
• Friday will be the second all-time meeting between Iowa and Denver, with the Hawkeyes notching a 4-3 triumph last season in Colorado.
• Five of the seven student-athletes on Denver’s roster are underclassmen (four freshmen; one sophomore)
• Paul Wardlaw is entering his second season as head coach for the Pioneers. Wardlaw was previously Iowa’s head coach for seven seasons (1997-2004). He guided the Hawkeyes to four NCAA Tournaments, including reaching the Round of 16 in 1999.
• All Pioneer student-athletes are a combined 9-0 in singles play and 3-3 in doubles.
SCOUTING KANSAS STATE
• Iowa leads the all-time series against Kansas State, 8-4.
• The Wildcats are 1-3 this season. Kansas State dropped a pair of matches in California last weekend to No. 8 Stanford (4-0) and Arkansas (4-0).
• All six Wildcats are international players and four of the six are underclassmen (three freshmen; one sophomore).
• Kansas State’s head coach Jordan Smith is in his fifth year as head coach.