The Iowa women’s tennis team got its first Big Ten victory on Sunday in a 4-3 victory over Michigan State.
Sunday’s game at the Hawkeye Tennis Complex was a vital one for the Hawkeyes. Dropping the first of their matches earlier this week in part to some crucial injuries against Big Ten opponents Penn State and Michigan made Sunday’s match for head coach Sasha Schmid a crucial one to win.
“Today was an absolutely incredible match for us,” Schmid said. “We’ve been through tough stretch as a group, and it’s been tough to have some setbacks that were really out of our control.”
And those injuries have not only put the Hawkeyes in a tough situation in the conference standings, they have also felt it on the court, having to mix and match new partner combinations.
“We’ve had to completely change doubles teams, so for us to come out and get the doubles point with new combos was incredible,” Schmid said. “I think we closed out matches well [Sunday] in doubles and singles.”
Despite Iowa’s injuries, the match went back and fourth beginning in doubles play. Iowa secured the doubles point with two_straight victories behind Elise van Heuvelen and Anastasia Reimchen (7-5) and Zoe Douglas and Adorabol Huckleby (7-5).
The Hawkeyes didn’t stop there; sophomore van Heuvelen kept the momentum going with a strong victory in straight sets (6-3, 6-1) in singles against Aslina Chua.
Injury-riddled senior Douglas lost her match as she returned after forcing a third-set tiebreaker (6-1, 3-6, 6-2). This opened the door for the Spartans, and they cut into the lead, trailing 2-1. That was until junior Huckleby bounced back, coming off two-straight loses in conference play singles matches earlier in the week. Huckleby defeated Davina Ngyugen (6-3, 6-4).
The play of Huckleby exemplified what Iowa is going to need in order to make a comeback in the Big Ten standings.
But not all of Iowa players were able to rise to the occasion Sunday afternoon.
Danielle Burich lost her match handily (6-1, 6-1) at the No. 6 position. The young freshman got her first taste of conference play as she filled in for injured freshman standout Yufei Long, who has run up a 12-2 record in singles.
It’s wins such as this with key players missing that Schmid loves to be a part of, because some matches are tougher than others, and this one was just that.
“Today, they fought with such incredible spirit,” she said. “I know this win just looks like a win, but for those that are a part of this team and this program know, the way these women showed grit and tenacity to and came back from a setback is something that none of us will ever forget. Of course, it’s good to get that first conference win, but this one mean more to us.”