Iowa women’s tennis player Marisa Schmidt can be found working in silence before practice every Wednesday. With Hawkeye assistant coach Elise van Heuvelen Treadwell lobbing balls over the net, Schmidt returns each one with a vicious backhand.

When van Heuvelen Treadwell offers a tip on how to improve her stroke, Schmidt simply nods and does as she’s told, letting her play speak for itself.

“I just know that I need to stick to my game, need to play aggressive, and commit to my strokes,” Schmidt said. “I feel like that’s what you need to do at any position, regardless where you play.”

As the No. 1 singles player for the Hawkeyes, Schmidt faces the opposing team’s best player every match. But the Karlsruhe, Germany, native doesn’t take this role for granted.

Schmidt said Iowa women’s tennis head coach Sasha Schmid tells the players what their lineup looks like, which isn’t guaranteed.

“It can switch at any time,” Schmidt said.

Rather than occupy herself with keeping her top spot, Schmidt instead prioritizes doing all she can to help the team win.

“I mean, honestly, I don’t really care about our lineup; I just want to play,” Schmidt said. “Go out there, win my match. Hopefully, the team can win.”

During her freshman season in spring 2022, Schmidt played all but two of her 23 singles matches in the No. 1 spot. She played in front of three seniors and faced seven nationally ranked opponents during that stretch.

“Since she came in January [of 2022], she’s consistently held that number one spot for us, so I’m really proud of her,” Schmid said. “You never have a day off. You always have a difficult opponent. And she really has a good competitiveness about rising to those challenges, which I think is a good quality of somebody who’s going to take the number one singles spot.”

Schmidt won the first three matches of her freshman season but finished 6-15 in the No. 1 slot. This spring, the sophomore has been making a turnaround, compiling a 4-2 record with two unfinished matches. Schmidt has not lost in straight sets so far this season.

“She has a really good sense of putting balls in play,” Schmid said. “She really doesn’t like to make errors, doesn’t like to make many mistakes, and really makes it difficult for her opponents by just keeping her unforced errors really low, so she’s really reliable like that and has a great baseline game.”

Schmidt said the best part of her game is her forehand, as she knows she can put more speed on the ball when she’s aggressive with that stroke. As for how her game resembles a No. 1 singles player, Schmidt was more hesitant.

“I feel like you just need to hit the ball, but like a lot of times I also don’t do it,” Schmidt said. “So, feel like you should, like, have a good serve, like just a ball you can hit a win with.”

The No. 1 singles spot usually signifies the best player on the team. But Schmidt feels no such superiority when she plays in that spot, and she’s willing to sacrifice it for the collective good.

“It doesn’t really matter on what position you play, and I wouldn’t say I’m, like, necessarily better than other players on our team,” Schmidt said. “I feel like we’re super equal; someone needs to play No. 1 spot, someone needs to be No. 6 spot. Like I said, if I start losing my matches, we will switch it around. So, it’s not really a big deal.”