The Iowa women’s tennis team took care of business Tuesday afternoon, sweeping Missouri-Kansas City, 7-0, at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex. Iowa improved to 5-3 overall, while the visitors dropped to 4-8 overall.
Head coach Katie Dougherty was pleased with the effort she saw from her team.
“Our focus was really good,” she said. “Sometimes, that can get away from us a little bit when we are up, and they did a great job of keeping the pressure on. We’ve struggled with that in the past and have let a few games get away from us here and there, but they did a good job of keeping their foot on the gas.”
The Hawkeyes dominated in doubles play to start the day. The doubles point was decided in matter of 30 minutes — a blink of an eye in tennis time.
The duo of junior Shelby Talcott and sophomore Annette Dohanics registered the first victory for Iowa with an 8-1 win in the No. 2 position. Freshman Aimee Tarun and senior Ruth Seaborne joined forces for the first time and handily defeated their opponents, 8-3, to secure the doubles point.
Seaborne usually plays doubles with Morven McColluch, who got the afternoon off. The tandem has amassed a 5-2 record and was ranked in the preseason top 25 prior to the beginning of last season.
“We competed well. This is a stronger [Missouri-Kansas City] team than we’ve faced in the past,” Dougherty said. “We switched around our doubles lineup a bit, and they responded well to that.”
Iowa kept its dominating surge going in singles play with all six of the matches determined in straight sets. Silver, Telcott, and Zordani recorded the first three victories for the Hawkeyes at the No. 5, No. 2, and No. 3 spots.
Talcott recorded her sixth win of the season to improve 6-1. Those six victories mark team-high wins. No. 82 Seaborne registered a 6-3, 6-0 win to improve 5-3 on the year at the No. 1 spot.
Dohanics clinched the win in the second-set tie-breaker (6-3, 7-6 [7-5]) at No. 4. Tarun made her second singles appearance of the season and improved to 2-0 on the year with a 6-1, 6-1 win at the No. 6 spot.
Despite the easy win for the Hawkeyes, they say there is always something to be taken from playing a team that isn’t quite as strong.
“There’s definitely things you can gain [in these matches],” Tarun, the sole freshman on the roster, said. “You can work on playing in a certain style, and it’s just always good to have more match play. There’s something to be said for playing teams that aren’t as strong because you know you’re suppose to win.”
“I felt really good, and the team played well,” Silver said. “We got the job done, and that’s what matters.”
