After dropping the first match of a two-part weekend series to Maryland, 4-2, on Friday, the No. 28 Iowa women’s tennis team rallied to a 4-1 victory over Rutgers.
To open their trip to the Northeast, the Hawkeyes tennis matched up against a gritty No. 74 Maryland squad. For singles, two Hawkeyes gathered victories over their Terrapin foe. No. 111 Daianne Hayashida defeated Ema Kovacevic, 6-4 and 7-6 while teammate Pia Kranholdt defeated Tamari Gagoshidze, 6-1 and 6-3.
On the doubles end, Hawkeye tennis went 1-2 against the Terrapins. The Maryland duo of Kovacevic and Diya Challa took down Hawkeyes Nikita Vishwase and Tereza Dejnozkova, 7-6 [3].
Terrapin’s Kallista Liu and Danielle Hack took down the Hawkeye pair of Hayashida and Marisa Schmidt, 6-3. The lone Iowa pair of Kranholdt and Barbora Pokorno defeated the Maryland duo of Oliwia Orlinska and Gagoshidze, 6-3.
“This was a tough Big Ten match on the road,” Iowa head coach Sasha Boros told HawkeyeSports. “These are always going to be a battle for us, and unfortunately, we were short today. It was a tight doubles point. Credit to Maryland for competing hard. I think it shows the depth of the conference and how hard every one of these matches are, especially on the road. We’re going to regroup and get ready for Rutgers on Sunday.”
Iowa then traveled to East Brunswick, New Jersey, to face off against a 7-11 Rutgers team that has only recorded one win in conference play this season.
Hawkeyes Dejnozkova and Vishwase defeated the duo of Mai Nguyen and Naomi Karki, 6-3, in doubles. The second set of Hawkeyes who recorded a doubles victory was Pokorna and Kranholdt who stunned Jackie Lopez and Zeynep Ilker, 6-0.
The Hawkeye duo of Hayashida and Schmidt were the only unsuccessful doubles pair, dropping a match to Minchae Kim and Karina Jumazhanova, 5-2.
For singles, Nguyen of Rutgers defeated Dejnozkova at 6-3 and 6-3. Hayashida avenged her teammate’s loss with a 6-2 and 6-1 alongside Pokorna’s own 6-4 and 6-1 win.
Vishwase took the win over Ilker at 6-4 and 7-5 to bring the Hawkeyes’ trip to close on a good note with a 4-1 victory.
Up next
Hawkeye tennis will have a week to prepare for a home match against UCLA on Friday, April 11. First serve is set for 5:00 p.m. CST at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex.