The Iowa women’s tennis team will have its hands full this weekend, but that’s not entirely because of the competition.

It’s going to be a challenging weekend for the Hawkeyes; they have yet been able to recover from injuries. Iowa will miss Danielle Bauers and Yufei Long yet again when they go on the road this weekend to face Indiana and Purdue. Iowa will play Indiana in Bloomington on Saturday at 11 a.m. before heading to West Lafayette and Purdue on April 1 at 11 a.m.

Although the Hawkeyes have struggled recently — they currently sit at 9-8, 1-3 in the Big Ten — head coach Sasha Schmid is eager to find out if her team has what it takes to turn things around.

“Indiana and Purdue are great teams, and we are excited to compete again this weekend,” she said. “This is a fun time of the season, when we get to play exciting matches every weekend.”

One focus to look for in this weekend’s matchups for the Hawkeyes is their intensity at the beginning of the match. Losing two-straight doubles points in the past week, the Hawkeyes need to be more engaged at the start.

“We’ve had a couple of disappointing results lately,” said senior Zoe Douglas. “But we have competed hard, and we are ready to push over that hurdle this weekend.”

Douglas will try to do more than help push her team to victory this weekend; she needs to get back on track in singles play after dropping six-consecutive matches.

“Nobody wants to finish their senior year on a losing streak like I have,” she said. “I’m still coming out here every day and working hard.”

But even if the Hawkeyes come out strong with lots of intensity during the beginning of their matches, it still might not be enough.

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Newly acquired Drake transfer Adrienne Jensen has yet to make an impact on a struggling Iowa team.

Jensen has gone a combined 0-4 between singles and doubles play, as she gets used to playing in the Big Ten. Despite the poor record, Schmid isn’t concerned about Jensen’s performance. She chalks it up to getting herself into tennis shape.

“We are only about a week and day in her joining the team,” Schmid said. “Every day, she’s gotten better. I’ve seen her improve every day.”

A player who has improved for the Hawkeyes is junior Adorabol Huckleby. After bettering her singles record to 8-6 with two victories last week against Ohio State, she is confident in her ability to get the job done against Indiana and Purdue.

“Last week’s wins have boosted my confidence going into this week’s matchup because I know I can play with girls in our conference and that our team can do really well,” Huckleby said.

This week’s matchups for the Hawkeyes will be a gut-check. If the they want to stay in the race in the Big Ten, they’ll need to come up with a pair of victories.