Noel named Big Ten Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Year

The New Jersey native was named conference athlete of the year and freshman of the year.

Casey Stone

Iowa’s Alexa Noel celebrates during the Iowa Women’s Tennis match against Purdue on Feb. 28, 2021 at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. Iowa defeated Purdue 6-1.

Will Fineman, Sports Reporter
May 3, 2021

Iowa women’s tennis freshman Alexa Noel has been named Big Ten Athlete of the Year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year, per a Monday afternoon release. 

Noel is the first player in program history to receive Athlete of the Year recognition, and she is the sixth player in Iowa women’s tennis history to be named freshman of the year. The last Iowa player to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year was Elise van Heuvelen Treadwell in 2017. 

The Summit, New Jersey, native also received first-team All-Big Ten recognition and was named to the league’s all-tournament team. 

In her first season of college tennis, Noel went 23-0 in singles with 16 of those victories coming against conference opponents. 

All of Noel’s wins came at the No. 1 spot in the lineup, and she took down eight ranked opponents over the course of the season. 

Noel also finished the season 8-4 in conference doubles matches at the No. 1 spot.

Iowa’s freshman phenom is ranked No. 18 nationally and achieved a program-best No. 13 ranking earlier this season. She is only the third player in Big Ten history to be named Big Ten Athlete of the Week four times in one season.

Senior Elise van Heuvelen Treadwell was also named to the All-Big Ten team Monday.

Van Heuvelen Treadwell is the first player in Big Ten history to receive first-team All-Big Ten recognition five times. 

The Seaford, East Sussex, England, native had a record of 19-4 in singles and is ranked No. 114 in the national singles rankings.