Iowa women’s tennis drops fourth consecutive match
The Hawkeyes were beaten, 4-3, by the Kansas State Wildcats on Friday night in Manhattan.
Iowa’s Michelle Bacalla serves the ball into play during a singles match at the Iowa Women’s Tennis meet in Iowa City on Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Bacalla won the match, 2-1. The Hawkeyes defeated the Golden Eagles, 6-1.
March 5, 2022
The Iowa women’s tennis team dropped its fourth consecutive match of the spring season Friday. The Hawkeyes were defeated by the Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan, 4-3.
Iowa opened the evening by losing two of its three doubles matches to Kansas State. A Samantha Mannix-Marisa Schmidt duo produced the Hawkeyes’ lone doubles win. Mannix, a senior, and Schmidt, a freshman, beat Kansas State’s Ioana Gheorghita-Florentine Dekkers tandem, 6-4.
Iowa split its singles matches with Kansas State, going 3-3 on the afternoon.
The Hawkeyes’ singles draw wins came from seniors Michelle Bacalla and Samantha Gillas and freshman Barbora Pokorna.
Bacalla picked up the most impressive win of the afternoon, downing No. 108 Rosanna Mafei via third-set tiebreak, 7-6, 1-6, 1-0 (10-6).
BIG PICTURE
Iowa is now 4-5 overall this spring. Iowa’s current four-match losing streak follows a stretch that saw the Hawkeyes win four of their first five spring duals.
“We just have to remember we have more opportunities,” Schmid said via release. “As disappointing as it is to fall short, we have to rebound and keep our chins up because we have another great week ahead.”
Just one nonconference match remains on Iowa’s schedule. The Hawkeyes will take on the Memphis Tigers on March 11 at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex.
Iowa was also supposed to play Kansas on Feb. 4. The dual was postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests in the Hawkeye program. The Hawkeyes and Jayhawks have yet to reschedule the match.
Iowa’s dual with Kansas State was scheduled for Feb. 6, but the contest was moved to Friday because of COVID-19.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
The four-game losing streak the Hawkeyes are now riding is the longest they’ve suffered through since the 2019-20 season.
Iowa has not lost four consecutive nonconference duals since 2010-2011. The Hawkeyes finished that campaign with a 6-17 overall record.
UP NEXT
Iowa will host No. 45 Minnesota on Monday at 12 p.m. at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. The dual will be the Hawkeyes first against a conference foe.
The Hawkeyes have won their last two matches against the Golden Gophers. Iowa hasn’t lost a home dual to Minnesota since April 20, 2018.
Admission to Monday’s Iowa-Minnesota women’s tennis dual is free. Action can also be followed on StatBroadcast or Playsight, both of which can be found with the Iowa women’s tennis team’s schedule on hawkeyesports.com.
