by Mason Clarke
The young women’s tennis squad has proved again they are anything but pushovers.
This past weekend, Iowa sent four players to the Drake Jamboree to face other power-conference squads. The four competing Hawkeyes were not highly experienced, but they kept up with the competition.
Iowa sophomore Montana Crawford and freshmen Adorabol Huckleby, Taylor Tamblyn, and Carin Runefelt each went through Oct. 24 with singles records of 1-1.
In singles, the Hawkeyes showed a little bit of both the ability to advance early and to finish strongly.
Huckleby and Tamblyn won their first round singles matches. Crawford and Runefelt closed out the second day strongly with victories.
On the third day of competition, Crawford, Huckleby and Runefelt lost their single matches in straight sets. Tamblyn, however, managed to win her flight at No. 4.
She defeated Iowa State’s Claudia Toledo (6-3, 6-2).
Iowa’s doubles squads showed more fight yet.
Both doubles teams were vitorious on Oct. 23. Crawford and Runefelt paired up to go 1-2 during the first three matches, and Tamblyn and Huckleby teamed up to win two of their first three matches.
On Sunday, Crawford and Runefelt won, though they finished the tournament with a 6-3 loss. Huckleby and Tamblyn finished the tournament with a 6-0 win.
“Overall, we played a lot of matches and saw a lot of improvements from everyone,” UI assistant coach Denise Dy said in a release. “Everyone had great wins in singles and competed well in the doubles. Taylor had a great showing, winning her flight at No. 4 singles.”
