The Iowa women’s tennis team concluded its fall season at the Schwartz Tennis Challenge in West Lafayette, Ind., over the weekend.

The tournament didn’t get off to a good start for the Hawkeyes, who competed against Vanderbilt and Illinois in doubles and against Purdue in singles on Nov. 4. Iowa lost all three matches.

A similar story occurred on Nov. 5, when the Black and Gold lost again in singles to Vanderbilt and to Georgia Tech. Iowa lost 6-0 to the Commodores and 5-0 to the Yellow Jackets.

Ellen Silver and Shelby Talcott provided Iowa’s only doubles win with a Sunday victory against Purdue (8-4). The Hawkeyes posted a 1-5 doubles record for the day, with two losses against Purdue and three against Georgia Tech.

Iowa went 2-4 in singles against Illinois; the Black and Gold got a 6-3, 1-5, 10-5 win from Christina Harazin and a (7-6, 1-6, 10-7) decision from Shelby Talcott.

Silver and Zordani have a 1-1 doubles record for the fall season and Talcott finished the autumn campaign 7-5 in singles.

"Our goal was to get better every day of this tournament from a competing standpoint, and we did that," head coach Katie Dougherty said in a release. "… We played a number of different doubles pairings and had players playing in spots higher than they have all fall. The team responded well. We wrapped up the fall on a positive note today."

The Hawkeyes will begin their spring season on Feb. 4, 2012, against Illinois.

— by Conrad Swanson