Hawkeye women’s tennis flips script quickly, splits 1-1 on the road

Cody Smith, [email protected]

April 9, 2018

Iowa’s Elise Van Heuvelen hits a forehand during a tennis match between Iowa and Ohio State in Iowa City on Sunday, March 25, 2018. The Buckeyes swept the doubles point and won the match, 6-1. (Shivansh Ahuja/The Daily Iowan)

The Hawkeyes didn’t get off to a hot start this past weekend, getting beaten handily by Maryland on April 7. After the team lost, 4-0, at the Cole Courts in College Park, Iowa head coach Sasha Schmid couldn’t seem to generate a lick of confidence heading into a tough match against Rutgers.

“No doubt it’s been a tough stretch for us,” said Schmid. “It is disappointing to not be able to play our way into the match.”

Iowa’s top duo, No. 55 sophomore Elise van Heuvelen and senior Anastasia Reimchen, lost to unranked opponents Kate Yemelyanenka and Saya Usi, followed by loses from Montana Crawford and Adrienne Jensen to secure the doubles point for the Terrapins.

It got even rougher for the Hawkeyes as van Heuvelen, Reimchen, and Jensen lost in singles.

Maryland claimed all the singles matches against Iowa in straight sets. The other singles matches were left unfinished.

With a 9-10 record after losing to Maryland, the Hawkeyes needed to regroup

The Hawkeyes were able to get a much-needed win as they topped the Scarlet Knights, 5-2, on Sunday at the Busch Courts in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

The Hawkeyes came out determined to turn the weekend around, and they grabbed the doubles points with two wins. Crawford and freshman Danielle Burich seized a surprising victory over Chloe Lee and Isabelle Da Silva (6-4).

Van Heuvelen was able to keep the momentum going in singles with a straight-set victory over Mingzui Du (6-2, 6-2) to give the Hawkeyes a 2-0 lead.

Reimchen was able to extend the Hawkeyes lead to 3-1 following her win after Adorabol Huckleby dropped her match.

Things got scary for a moment when Rutgers countered with a straight-set victory, with Burich losing to Da Silva (6-3,7-5).

But senior Zoe Douglas clinched the victory for the Hawkeyes winning a third-set tiebreaker. The win not only secured confidence for a desperate team going through a tough stretch, it also broke Douglas’s eight-match losing streak. Crawford made the final score with a 5-2 victory over Maya Jacobs in a three-set win.

“We had a good battle,” Schmid said. “I’m proud of the team for fighting hard in every match.”