The 2016 Iowa women’s tennis season started with bringing back a familiar face. Sasha Schmid, once a four-year letter winner for the Hawkeyes from 1992-1996 and assistant coach the following two years, returned to become the eighth head coach of the Hawkeyes, making it a happy homecoming.On July 29, Schmid was named head coach. That day marked the end of mediocrity for the women’s tennis program and began the transition from Big Ten bottom feeders to consistent contenders in the conference.
In Schmid’s first season as head coach, the Hawkeyes ended with a 16-9 record, earning themselves a spot in the Big Ten Tournament for the first time in years. They also had the second-best start in school history (9-0) and were at one point in the season ranked No. 47 in the national team rankings.
With all the accomplishments Schmid’s team made in the first year, she was the perfect candidate for The Daily Iowan’s Coach of the Year award. Schmid took over a program that didn’t win a single match against Big Ten opponents last season (0-11). The Hawkeyes also struggled to win on the road (2-9) and ended losing six-straight matches.
After a season with Schmid, that all changed.
The team bought into her way of coaching, which never involved raising her voice but instead consisted of softly spoken one-on-one conversations, discussing how each player can improve her game.
The Hawkeyes earned their first conference victory on March 11, when they defeated Indiana (6-1). That was the first of five victories for the Hawkeyes during conference play. The Hawkeyes then went on to defeat Wisconsin (6-1), Minnesota (4-2), Penn State (6-1), and Nebraska (4-3).
Winning on the road is never easy, but the Hawkeyes ended one match above .500 away from Iowa City, posting a 6-5 record. Three of those five losses came at the hands of ranked opponents. And the Hawkeyes ended with a 3-3 record in their last six games this season.
When Schmid was hired, she talked about how becoming competitive in the conference would be vital to the Hawkeyes’ success. To do that, Schmid implemented a new workout regimen that would challenge the players’ physical and mental toughness. Her thought process behind the new program was if the players experience adversity and fatigue in practice, once it happened during a match, they would know how to cope with it.
Last season, the Hawkeyes lost five matches by 1 point. But with the team conditioned to go the distance this season, the Hawkeyes won three of their five matches that came down to a single point. One of those victories came against No. 50 Wichita State.
An area in which Schmid excelled all season was never allowing the players to get too high or low from wins and losses. Even though the Hawkeyes started 9-0, Schmid wanted them never to overlook their next opponent. When the team lost three-straight matches, the first-year head coach always looked for the positives and told her players to work harder the next week.
In her second season, Schmid will have Big Ten Freshman of the Year Elise van Heuvelen and seniors Montana Crawford, Zoe Douglas, and Anastasia Reimchen to help the Hawkeyes continue their upward direction.
The bitter taste of losing in the opening match of Big Ten Tournament against Indiana will only make the team hungrier next season. But the Hawkeyes will be back, because Schmid will place lofty expectations on the team throughout her tenure at Iowa.
“Hopefully, this has just become standard for us,” Schmid said. “I think that it’s a goal that we should reach every year, and then it can hopefully springboard from the Big Ten Tournament to NCAAs. That’s really what the hope is.”
Sasha Schmid
2016 – 17 season
• 9-0 start was the second-best in program history
• Ranked No. 47 nationally at one point during the season
• Won 5 Big Ten matches (0 last season)