Iowa Faces Penn State on Thursday in Big Ten Tournament

THIS WEEK
The seventh-seeded University of Iowa women’s tennis team opens Big Ten Tournament play Thursday, facing 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The dual will begin at 1 p.m. (CT).
• With a victory, the Hawkeyes would advance to face second-seeded Ohio State in the Big Ten quarterfinals.

FOLLOW LIVE
• Fans can follow all matches this week live via the Big Ten Women’s Tennis Tournament Central at bigten.org.
• Fans can also follow the action live via the Iowa women’s X account (@iowa_tennis).

LAST MATCH
The Hawkeyes split their final weekend of competition in Michigan, falling 4-0 to No. 2 Michigan on April 20 and downing Michigan State, 4-1, on April 21. Iowa dropped the doubles point against the Spartans before stringing together four straight-set singles wins to clinch the team victory. Junior Nikita Vishwase earned her first singles win of the season, defeating Nicole Conard on court six, 6-4, 6-4.

SCHMIDT EARNS B1G HONOR
Junior Marisa Schmidt earned her first career Big Ten Player of the Week honor on March 27. She earned the distinction after going 2-0 in singles, which included a 6-0, 6-2 win over Northwestern’s 88th-ranked Justine Leong. Schmidt has added one more win to her list after defeating Tara Chilton of Rutgers last week, 6-2, 6-2. The honor was Iowa’s first since 2021.

2023 BIG TEN TOURNAMENT REVIEW
Iowa split a pair of duals at the 2023 Big Ten Tournament in West Lafayette, Indiana. The Hawkeyes downed No. 68 Indiana, 4-1, in their opening match before falling 4-2 to Illinois in the quarterfinals.

STRINGING Ws
• Junior Marisa Schmidt has a team-best 12 wins this season, including posting an 11-1 record at the No. 2 singles position.
• Senior Vipasha Mehra has won six of her last eight matches with four being straight-set victories.
• Iowa is 26-21 in singles matches in Big Ten play this season.

A PERFECT PAIR
• Sophomore Pia Kranholdt and junior Barbora Pokorna have a team-best 11 doubles victories this season. The duo has played at every spot in the doubles lineup, posting a 1-0 record at No. 1, 4-5 at No. 2, and 6-1 at No. 3.

ALL DAI
• Sophomore Daianne Hayashida has been Iowa’s No. 1 singles player throughout the spring, posting an 11-6 singles record.
• During the fall, Hayashida advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITA Midwest Regionals and she competed in the main draw of the ITA Women’s All-American Championships in September. She was the first Hawkeye to advance to the regional quarterfinals since Elise van Heuvelen in 2019.

SCOUTING PENN STATE
• The Nittany Lions enter the postseason with a 5-16 overall record, including a 4-7 mark in Big Ten play.
• Thursday’s meeting will be the second in a two-week span, as the Hawkeyes downed Penn State, 4-0, on April 14 at the HTRC.
• Sofiya Chekhylstova leads the Nittany Lions with 13 singles victories.