Iowa women’s tennis continued its hot start to conference play with a 4-3 win over Indiana at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex Friday. 

After her, 6-1, 6-0, win against Annabelle Andrinopoulos, No. 97 Alexa Noel is now 11-0 in singles in her first season and has dropped only three games or less in her last two matches.

“To be a freshman and coming in and absolutely dominating at the top spot is very impressive,” head coach Sasha Schmid said. “That’s a testament to her physical talents and her tennis ability.”

Noel is ranked within the top 100 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings but is likely to make a jump up. She has a win against the No. 57 player in the country and has been unstoppable against some of the top players in the Big Ten. 

“I expect that when the rankings are rerun that she would be higher than that,” Schmid said. “She has quality wins and no losses, and I think rankings are difficult this year just because of COVID-19.”

Noel and senior Elise van Heuvelen Treadwell have become one of the best one-two combos in the conference so far this season.

Van Heuvelen Treadwell won her singles match, 6-2, 6-2, and helped seal the doubles point for Iowa with a, 6-1, win with her doubles partner, junior Samantha Gillas.

“Me and Elise just get along really well,” Gillas said. “And I think our game styles complement each other. It is just about going out there every doubles match with a fresh start playing our game because we know that if we do what we need to do we can compete with anyone.”

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With the win in singles, van Heuvelen Treadwell is one win away from tying Hillary Mintz for sixth in program history in career singles wins. She will look to tie that record on Sunday against Purdue.

“I don’t think about it at all,” van Heuvelen Treadwell said. “I have never thought about it in any match that I have played. It doesn’t change anything . I mean it’s a nice bonus at the end of it, but really I am just going into every match trying to win as many matches as possible.”

The other doubles win for Iowa came from their No. 3 pair of freshman Vipasha Mehra and senior Danielle Bauers, 6-3. 

Schmid has harped on the importance of depth for this Iowa team because the top of the lineup for the Hawkeyes has won at a much higher percentage than the bottom three. 

The Mehra/Bauers doubles win as well as Gillas’, 6-3, 6-2, win at the No. 6 position was a positive sign in that area for the Hawkeyes.

“I believe that we should be in all of these matches and be competitive at every spot,” Schmid said. “That is going to be the factor that is going to determine how far we can go is how many courts can be competitive and pull through in tough moments at their spot.”

Junior Samantha Mannix dropped her match, 6-3, 6-4, and Mehra could not ride the momentum of her first singles win last weekend, as she lost as well, 6-3, 6-0.

Iowa will return to the court on Sunday at 11 a.m. to take on Purdue at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex.