The Iowa women’s tennis team left Iowa City on April 5, embarking on a two-match road trip where the Hawkeyes will square off against Penn State on April 7, then two days later, head to the Buckeye State to face Ohio State.

Iowa is 8-7 on the season and sports a 4-3 Big Ten record, good enough for sixth place in the conference. The Nittany Lions lurk three spots behind with a 10-9 overall record and a 2-3 mark in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes loom in second place with a 5-0 conference record to go along with a 12-5 season as of April 5.

Trip to Happy Valley

Fifty-ninth-ranked Penn State heads into its 1 p.m. showdown with the 58th-ranked Hawkeyes on an inconsistent run, putting up a 2-4 record in March, but earning shutout conference wins over Minnesota and Indiana.

Head coach Alexandra Anghelescu’s Nittany Lion squad is headlined by their No. 1 singles player Sofiya Chekhlystova. A native of Tallinn, Estonia, Chekhlystova was a first-team All-Big Ten player in 2022 and most recently defeated fellow all-conference nominee, Indiana’s Lara Schneider, in straight sets.

The Hawkeyes are getting ready for the upcoming road trip the same way they have for any matches this season.

“I feel like it’s the same as what you prepare for any match,” Iowa junior Vipasha Mehra told The Daily Iowan at practice on Tuesday. “We just got to make sure that we practice what we need to practice and just believe in ourselves.”

The upcoming competition against the Nittany Lions will serve as a chance for redemption for the Hawkeyes, who dropped a 4-3 decision to Penn State at home last season. For Iowa head coach Sasha Schmid, the match will be a chance to right the ship after falling, 4-2, to Indiana on April 2.

“We’re just honestly, you know, trying to rebound off a really disappointing loss so, emotionally, just trying to get ourselves back and get everybody focused,” Schmid said.

 Bracing for brutal Buckeye lineup

Eighth-ranked Ohio State has been on a tear the past month, winning five of six matches, all via shutout against conference foes. Only trailing Michigan in the conference standings, the Buckeyes have a 5-0 conference record and are 12-5 overall heading into their April 5 matchup against Kentucky.

The last time Iowa defeated Ohio State was on April 25, 2013, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

The top three singles spots for the Scarlet and Gray are occupied by graduate student Isabelle Boulais, senior Irina Cantos Siemers, and sophomore Sydni Ratliff.

Boulais was an All-Big Ten selection last season while Cantos Siemers was a unanimous selection to the squad. Ratliff was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and the ITA’s Midwest Rookie of the Year in 2022, reaching as high as No. 43 nationally in singles.

The trio has rotated between the top three singles spots this season. In the Buckeyes’ most recent match against Northwestern, Ratliff held the top spot, followed by Cantos Siemers and Boulais.

Mehra, as well as Iowa freshman Daianne Hayashida, have each started at the No. 3 spot this season and may get the chance to compete against one of the Ohio State stars.

“Well, it’s amazing and it’s really nice that we have [Ohio State] on our schedule so we can show what we’ve been working on and getting ready to hopefully cause an upset,” Mehra said. “I think I just need to focus on my court and get the job done.”

Doubles swap

Before Iowa’s matchup against Purdue on March 31, the Hawkeyes had been struggling in the doubles portion of head-to-head duals. Leading into the match against the Boilermakers, the Black and Gold had lost three straight doubles points, but managed to pull out the necessary two victories necessary to earn the doubles point against Purdue.

Two days later, versus Indiana, the Hawkeyes won the doubles point again.

Because of recent struggles, Schmid believed it was time for a change before the matchup with the Boilermakers.

“We just hadn’t won a doubles point,” Schmid said. “I mean, I was just, like, ‘I’ve got to take some responsibility as a coach for maybe thinking that maybe we got a little stale.’”

Instead of Iowa fifth-year senior Samantha Mannix and sophomore Marisa Schmidt at the No. 1 team, Mannix is now with Mehra as the top combo. Schmidt is now with Hayashida as the No. 2 pair.

Mehra said she and Mannix were a team for parts of the spring season last year. This year, the pair has gone 2-0, and the Hawkeyes secured the doubles point in both of those matches.

The only Iowa doubles team that didn’t change was the No. 3 combo of sophomore Barbora Pokorna and freshman Pia Kranholdt. The pair have won two of their last three matches, the most recent being a shutout over the Hoosiers.

“I think that Pia has learned a lot about doubles over the course of her freshman year and she’s been great, coachable, has good court positioning and stays close to the net,” Schmid said. “[Pokorna] has a good lefty serve and just tremendous positivity that really helps the energy on that court.”