Iowa women’s tennis players Carin Runefelt (freshman) and Montana Crawford (sophomore) competed at the Roberta Alison Fall Classic over this past weekend. The two Hawkeyes represented Iowa in Alabama this past weekend at the Oct. 30-31 tournament.

Runefelt and Crawford opened competition on Oct. 30 for both doubles and singles matches. Crawford started strong with a first-round singles victory against Tulane’s Sophia Kurtz.

The two Iowa players could not muster another singles victory the rest of the tournament.

“Montana did a great job battling in her first match,” head coach Katie Dougherty said in a release. “Carin had a couple tough ones but played better in her second match.”

The doubles tournament was a different story for the Hawkeyes. They came out dominant right away, winning their first match (6-3) against Kennesaw State.

“They were able to execute much of what we’ve been practicing the last couple weeks,” Dougherty said.

On the second and final day of the tournament, Crawford and Runefelt won their second round doubles match, advancing to the final round to face Tulane.

Iowa had met its match, unable to win in the final round. The Hawkeyes came out of the weekend still able to boast a 2-1 overall record in the tournament.

“We gained valuable match experience this weekend,” Dougherty said. “I’m looking forward to our final fall tournament next weekend with the entire team to gauge how far we’ve come this fall and what we need to do heading into the off-season.”
— by Mason Clarke