Cyclones Fall to Nebraska, 6-1

Saturday, March 31

Ames, Iowa

3:00 PM

Iowa State

Nebraska

03.31.2007 | Tennis

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State tennis team fell to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 6-1, at the Ames Racquet and Fitness Center Saturday. With the loss, the Cyclones fall to 5-6 overall and 0-5 in the Big 12, while the Huskers improve to 9-5 on the season, and 2-4 in the league.

In doubles action, ISU's No. 3 tandem of Alyssa Palen and Chrissy Derouin defeated Nebraska's Marianne Cicmanec and Ashley Finnegan, 8-4. In the No. 1 slot, ISU's Kara Hickey and Eve Soriano were defeated by Nebraska's Imke Reimers and Diana Kuhl, 8-2.

In singles action, the 75th-ranked Huskers took five of the six matches from the Cyclones, although the Cyclones didn't go down without a resilient fight. Iowa State freshman Alyssa Palen picked up her first Big 12 singles win of the year as she defeated Nebraska's Maria Ring, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

"I was really impressed with the way Alyssa played in singles and doubles today," head coach Michele Conlon said.

In the No. 5 slot, ISU's Danielle Uscinski lost a hard fought match to NU's Cicmanec. After winning the first set, Uscinski fell in a tie-breaker, 4-6, 7-5 (10-6). In the No. 6 slot, ISU's Derouin dropped the first set to NU's Finnegan, but then battled back, taking the second set 7-5. In the end, after a valiant effort, NU's Finnegan topped Derouin in a 10-8 tie-breaker.

"We were right there in a lot of the matches," Conlon said.