By Patrick Mason
patrick-mason@uiowa.edu
The Iowa women’s tennis team (1-0) is on a roll, even though it only has one meet under its belt.
The Hawkeyes spent the past week trying to build off the way they played in a 7-0 win over Illinois State last weekend. Starting off on the right foot, staying focused, and being aggressive were on the menu.
“Starting strong in singles, the way we’re setting up points, and really stressing getting first serves and making returns,” head coach Katie Dougherty said when asked what her team has been working on. “The first couple of shots in the point should be to set up our strengths and a pattern. And in doubles, start out strong and aggressive and really make our presence known at the net.”
Senior Sonja Molnar echoed the third-year head coach’s statements.
“The goal is to stay focused and do all of the right things when we need them,” she said. “Hopefully the good things will come to us … [our awareness is] higher now since the season is underway after having our first match.”
The Hawkeyes will host two teams this weekend, and they expect both will push them harder than Illinois State did on Feb. 4.
Illinois-Chicago (2-2) will come to the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center today to begin the weekend for the Hawkeyes. The Flames are perennial winners of the Horizon League Conference; they’ve won the past 15 league titles.
In-state rival Iowa State (0-3) visits Iowa City on Feb. 12 to continue the Cy-Hawk Series.
“It’s obviously always a huge rivalry for any sport,” Molnar said. “Same goes for tennis, and our hope is to come out on top.”
The teams didn’t play each other last year, but the Hawkeyes said they aren’t looking past Illinois-Chicago to the chance for in-state bragging rights.
“We want to build on last weekend, but at the same time, we’re not thinking
past this Friday,” Dougherty said. “We haven’t even really discussed it [Iowa State]. We’re just looking at [Illinois-Chicago], and when Saturday rolls around, we’ll start talking about Iowa State.”
Having a day off in between meets is a luxury the team didn’t often enjoy in the fall — the fall season’s tournament format sometimes calls for playing matches on back-to-back-to-back days — so recovery should not be an issue.
“We’re used to it,” sophomore Christina Harazin said. “[But] the day off is nice and we’ll use it to prepare for Iowa State.”
After a busy week of stressing style of play and working on building off past successes, the Hawkeyes seem ready for the long weekend ahead.
“We’re ready,” Dougherty said. “They’ve done a great job this week at practice getting ready and we will be ready for Friday.”
