The Iowa women’s tennis team competed in the NIU Huskie Winter Invitational in DeKalb, Illinois from Jan 14-16. The Hawkeyes finished with a 16-7 overall record, going 6-3 in doubles and 10-4 in singles play. Sophomore Marisa Schmidt and freshman Daianne Hayashida won their respective singles brackets.

Schmidt won her first match in straight sets over Hannah Smith of DePaul and went on to defeat NIU’s Erika Dimitriev in a third-set tiebreaker by a score of 10-8. In the finals, Schmidt ousted Doroteja Joksovic of Marshall in another tiebreaking set.

Hayashida only lost one set of singles during her run to the championship, succumbing to the Huskies’ Anastasia Rakita, 7-5, in the first set of their second-round matchup. Also playing in the Hayashida’s bracket was Iowa fifth-year senior Samantha Mannix, who made it to the semifinals before losing to DePaul’s Eleanor Nobbs in an 11-9 tiebreaking third set.

“We definitely needed to play matches,” head coach Sasha Schmid told The Daily Iowan. “I think competing and being able to be in competition and under pressure situations, it’s invaluable and it’s so much better than anything we can ever do at practice. I’m really grateful for those three days.”

Injury updates

Hawkeye freshman Pia Kranholdt did not play her second singles match while sophomore Barbora Pokorna sat out the final round of her singles bracket. Schmid said both moves were precautionary measures given Iowa’s small roster size.

“We’ve got seven players and we’re always probably going to err on the side of caution if we can just keep both bodies healthy,” Schmid said. “Thought they both had a lot of good matches and gotten some doubles, and then basically had to shut them down so that we’re optimal for the weekend.”

Pokorna was playing a match for the first time since a Universal Tennis Rankings tournament in Champaign, Illinois, in late September. The Czech Republic native was dealing with a left shoulder injury that impeded her serve.

“Sometimes it’s a little difficult coming to rehab a lot, not being able to do what you want to do 100 percent, like serving for me,” Pokorna said. “But it’s really important to stay consistent with it and be patient because then you can see the results of it getting better and just doing everything you’re supposed to do like stretch a lot … I didn’t really know what to expect after not playing for such a long time, but the first day I won all my matches.”

Freshman and senior team up

Mannix and Kranholdt played as a doubles pair for the first time this season. The freshman and fifth-year senior won two of their three matches, only falling, 7-6,  to Yuliya Kizelbasheva and Lenka Antonijevic of DePaul.

“That was the first time they had really played together, I thought it was great,” Schmid said. “But I think, especially early in the season, we’re still going to be sorting through doubles combinations. So just good to be able to be flexible.”

Up next for the Hawkeyes is a trip to the Carolinas. Iowa plays Charlotte on Friday, Jan. 20 in North Carolina, then heads south for a morning matchup against Furman in Greenville, South Carolina Jan. 22.