The Iowa women’s tennis team’s season came to a close Thursday. The conference’s ninth-seeded squad fell to eighth-seeded Minnesota in the first round of the 2011 Big Ten Tournament, 4-2.

The loss capped off the Hawkeyes’ record at 6-16 (3-7 Big Ten).

"It was a hard-fought doubles point, and we put ourselves in a good position going into singles," head coach Katie Dougherty said in a release. "I’ve got to give [the Gophers] a lot of credit; they had their backs against the wall and did a great job of battling. The match was hanging in the balance there for a while, and they stepped up before, and more, than we did."

Just four days earlier, the Golden Gophers defeated the Hawkeyes, 6-1, but Iowa seemed optimistic and poised to get revenge.

"Our team came out more motivated than the last time we played them," junior Sonja Molnar said. "We fought hard, we lost a few close matches, which ultimately made the difference today in which team came out on top."

The No. 29 doubles duo of Molnar and senior Jessica Young led the Hawkeyes’; the pair took out Alessandra Ferrazzi and Natallia Pintusava (8-5). Senior Alexis Dorr and freshman Christina Harazin won their doubles match (9-7) to clinch the doubles point for the Hawkeyes.

Things were looking up heading into singles, until Minnesota took four of the five singles matches.

Molnar was the only Iowa player to pick up a point. The No. 103 singles player defeated No. 83 Natallia Pintusava (6-2, 6-1) in the No. 1 spot.

Young and senior Lynne Poggensee-Wei both lost matches (6-2, 6-1) in the 2 and 3 spots, respectively.

As seniors, Young, Poggensee-Wei, and Dorr played their final matches in a Hawkeye uniform.