The Iowa women’s tennis team kicked off its season at the ITA All-American Championships in North Carolina over the last week. 

Four athletes from Iowa competed: Fourth-years Marisa Schmidt and Barbara Pokorna along with third-year Tereza Dejnozkova played in the pre-qualifying draw for singles. Junior Daianne Hayashida played in the singles qualifying draw as well as the pre-qualifying doubles draw with Schmidt. 

The tournament is a qualifier for NCAA singles and doubles championships later on in the season, so there was fierce competition all weekend.

During the matches on Sept. 23, Pokorna beat Pennsylvania’s Maya Urata. Both Schmidt and Dejnozkova fell in their matches. Pokorna and Dejnozkova defeated their opponents from Ohio State, sending them to the Round of 32 on Monday.

During Monday’s single and doubles play, Iowa faced tough opponents, ultimately sending the former to the consolation bracket. 

Hayashida lost to Immi Haddad from USC.

Pokorna and Dejnozkova also fell to another USC duo of Haddad and Emma Charney during the doubles match-ups in the Round of 32.

During the consolation matches, though, Iowa fought back.

Hayashida beat Georgia Tech’s Kate Sharabura. On the other court, Pokorna and Dejnozkova defeated TCU’s Tomi Main and Yu-Chin Tsai in what proved to be an exciting three-set matchup. 

Up next

The team will travel west to Seattle, Washington, to compete in the Husky Invitational from Oct. 4-6.