Four Iowa women’s tennis athletes competed at the ITA Division I Regional Championships in Lawrence, Kansas, at the Jayhawk Tennis Center from Oct. 12-16.
The event saw some of the top tennis talents from the Midwest in an exciting competition.
Third-year Barbora Pokorna, second-years Daianne Hayashida and Pia Kranholdt, and first-year Jessica Matthews represented the Black and Gold, competing in both singles and doubles events. The tournament featured intense single-elimination matches, and the Hawkeyes left their mark throughout the competition.
In doubles play, Hayashida and Matthews started strong with an impressive 8-0 sweep against their opponents from Central Arkansas, sending them to the Round of 32. Kranholdt and Pokorna kept the momentum going with a thrilling tiebreaker victory against Tulsa’s Lily Hutchings and Maria Bandera Berlanga, securing their spot in the Round of 32.
Hayashida and Matthews continued their success, reaching the Round of 16 by defeating Drake’s Oriana Parkins-Godwin and Ines Stephani, 8-3. Kranholdt and Pokorna then fell to Nebraska’s Maja Pietrowicz and Lucy Loy, concluding their doubles competition.
In singles play, the Hawkeyes continued to dominate. Kranholdt started the day with a straight-set win against Arkansas’s Kacie Harvey, while Hayashida followed suit with a 7-5 and 6-2 victory over Manami Ukita from Kansas State. Pokorna added to the win column by defeating Southern Illinois’s Jordan Schifano. Kranholdt faced a tough match against Kristina Novak of Oklahoma State and didn’t secure the win, but her teammates Hayashida and Pokorna advanced to the Round of 32 in singles.
Hayashida notched two more wins on the third day of competition with 6-0 victories over Anet Koskel of Arkansas and a hard-fought three-set win against fifth-seeded Mae Canete of Missouri.
Hayashida reached the quarterfinals, marking her as the first Hawkeye to advance to the regional quarterfinals since 2019.
“I am really proud of Dai, I think it was a tremendous day for her,” Iowa tennis head coach Sasha Schmid said. “Making it to the quarters with an elite group of players, she learned a lot, and I think she will take a lot of confidence from this.”
Pokorna’s run ended with a straight-set loss to Oklahoma’s Ava Catanzarite. In doubles play, Hayashida and Matthews concluded their run with a match against Oklahoma’s Dana Guzman and Alina Shcherbinina.
The Hawkeyes finished the weekend with a 5-4 record in singles competition and a 3-2 record in doubles competition, excluding the extra exhibition matches.
“We have some really productive things to take away from the event.” Schmid said. “Overall, it was good for Jess, Poko, and Pia to compete and have a great weekend of competitive matches. We’re going to get home and get back to practice as we have a lot of work to do before our final event in November.”
The Hawkeyes will continue their season as they head to Las Vegas, Nevada, for their final fall competition at the Las Vegas International starting on Nov. 10.
