By Nicholas Moreano
The Iowa women’s tennis team failed to pick up a win on its last road trip of the season.
On April 15, the Hawkeyes lost a closely contested match to No. 9 Michigan, 4-3, in Ann Arbor, then fell to Michigan State, 5-2, in East Lansing.
After dropping the two matches over the weekend, the Hawkeyes now stand at 15-9, 4-6 in the Big Ten.
Iowa head coach Sasha Schmid said after the weekend was over that her team can learn from the two losses, but that ultimately it was tough to swallow.
“Today was a hard-fought match, it was tough to come up short,” she said in a release. “We can take a lot away from this match and get ready to finish strong the rest of the way.”
Despite the Wolverines having two ranked doubles teams heading into the matchup, Michigan head coach Ronni Bernstein decided to change her lineups. Instead of going with Kate Fahey and Alex Najarian, who were ranked No. 7 in the country, Bernstein put Brienne Minor and Fahey at the No. 1. The Hawkeyes No. 1 duo of Elise van Heuvelen and Adorabol Huckleby defeated Minor and Fahey (6-1).
The Wolverines’ No. 2 duo of Chiara Lommer and Najarian defeated Zoe Douglas and Kristen Thoms (6-3). But the Hawkeyes claimed the doubles point at the No. 3 spot when Montana Crawford and Aimee Tarun defeated Annie Wierda and Mira Ruder-Hook (7-6).
In singles, the Wolverines claimed the first three matches. At the No. 4 spot, Lommer defeated Crawford (6-2, 6-0). Then Ruder-Hook defeated Adorabol Huckleby (6-2, 6-2), and Najarian defeated Anastasia Reimchen (6-2, 6-4).
Douglas defeated No. 24 Minor in three sets (4-6, 6-2, 6-1). But Fahey sealed the victory for the Wolverines by defeating van Heuvelen (7-5, 7-6).
The Hawkeyes also started their match against the Spartans by winning the doubles point. At the No. 2 spot, Thoms and Douglas defeated Samantha Memjie and Athena Trouillot (6-4). Then Crawford and Tarun clinched the doubles point once again at the No. 3 spot when they defeated Lexi Baylis and Erin Faulkner (6-2).
In singles, the Spartans dominated.
It started with Crawford falling to Davina Nguyen (6-2, 6-1) at No. 4. At No. 5, Trouillot defeated Huckleby (6-2, 6-1). Reimchen lost at No. 3 to Emily Metcalf (6-3, 6-2). Van Heuvelen got the Hawkeye’s first and only victory in singles when she defeated Aslina Chua (6-3, 6-1) at the No. 1 spot.
Tarun lost her match to Memije (6-0, 6-3), and Douglas was the last Hawkeye off the court as she lost to Faulkner (6-4, 6-2).
“You have to give credit to Michigan State,” Schmid said in a release. “They played well and were tougher than us today.”
The Hawkeyes’ last match of the season will be against Nebraska at noon on Saturday at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex.