The Iowa women’s tennis team struggled at the beginning of the Wildcat Invitational, but bounced back to have a positive final day in the tournament this weekend.

The first days of the tournament, held in Winnetka, Ill., saw the Hawkeyes drop eight singles matches and six in doubles.

But Sunday proved to be different — the Black and Gold won four-straight singles matches — three against Big Ten opponents.

Iowa’s freshmen were particularly good. Shelby Talcott — the Sept. 21 Big Ten women’s tennis Player of the Week — Katie Zordani, and Morven McCulloch all won their singles matches on the last day of the tournament. All three had lost at least one of their doubles matches during the early stages of the three-day tournament.

Talcott defeated Minnesota’s Alexa Palen (6-2, 7-5), Zordani beat Western Michigan’s Maggie Remynse (6-3, 6-3), and McCulloch bested Michigan State’s Julianne Gruber (7-6, 6-4).

Senior Ally Majercik tallied Iowa’s fourth win by defeating the Spartans’ Katarina Lingl (7-5, 6-1).

Christina Harazin and Cassandra Escobar both lost to Big Ten players on Sunday. Sonja Molnar didn’t participate because she is scheduled begin playing at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships in California on Tuesday.

Despite a slow start on the first few days, assistant coach Jesse Medvene-Collins said he’s positive about the team’s progress.

"I was really pleased with how we competed today at such a high-level tournament," he said in a release. "We didn’t necessarily play our best tennis, but we found a way to win against quality opponents."

— by Conrad Swanson