WTEN Preview \\ Illinois State, Kentucky

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s tennis team opens the 2025 spring season with a pair of home contests, hosting Illinois State on Monday and Kentucky on Friday at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center.  Both duals will begin at noon (CT).

FOLLOW LIVE
• A live stream of the dual will be available on hawkeyesports.com via PlaySight.
• Fans can follow the matches live via StatBroadcast and updates will be provided on the Iowa women’s tennis’ X account at @iowa_tennis.

THE OPPONENTS
• Illinois State was picked to finish third in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2025. The Redbirds return five letterwinners from a team that went 17-7 overall and 7-1 in the MVC a season ago.
• Kentucky posted a 9-13 overall and 2-7 SEC record in 2024.  The Wildcats have six returnees on the roster.

QUICK HITTERS
• Iowa returns six letterwinners from a team that won 13 matches and finished tied for sixth in the Big Ten standings during the 2024 season.
• Sasha Boros is in her ninth season as Iowa’s head coach.  The Iowa alum has guided the Hawkeyes to 89 victories during her eight-year tenure. She has 266 wins as a head coach in stops at Stetson, Missouri and Iowa.

IN THE RANKINGS
The Hawkeyes have two players -- juniors Tereza Dejnozkova and Daianne Hayashida -- in the ITA preseason rankings.  Dejnozkova is ranked No. 75 in singles, while Hayashida is No. 89.

TESS = BIG TEN PRESEASON PLAYER TO WATCH
Junior Tereza Dejnozkova has been named a Big Ten Preseason Player to Watch for the 2025 season.  The Czech Republic native posted a 5-4 overall singles and 3-2 doubles record during the fall season, which included a third-place finish at the ITA Central Regionals in October.  It was the highest finish by a Hawkeye all-time.
• Dejnozkova transfered to Iowa from South Alabama, where she was a second-team All-Sun Belt selection as a sophomore.  She won 32 singles and 23 doubles matches during her two seasons.

DAI’S STRONG FALL
Junior Daianne Hayashida had a team-best seven singles victories during the fall season, posting a 7-3 overall record.  She also won four matches, teamming with Marisa Schmidt in doubles.
• Hayashida won the consolation singles title at the ITA Sectionals in Ann Arbor in November.
• The Peru native, who earned All-Big Ten recognition as a sophomore, enters the 2025 season with 39 career singles and 31 career doubles victories.

MARISA RETURNS
Senior Marisa Schmidt returns for her final season as a Hawkeye after posting a team-best 13-5 singles record during the 2024 season. She posted a 12-1 record at the No. 2 singles position a season ago.
•The Germany native has 38 career singles and 30 career doubles victories.

WELCOME, SALLY
The Hawkeyes added Sally Xu to the roster for the spring semester.  The Guangzhou, China, native had an International Tennis Federation ranking of 75 in October of 2024.  She will be a freshman for the Hawkeyes.