Completed Event: Tennis at #19 TCU on March 15, 2026 , Loss , 0, to, 4
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#19 TCU
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Iowa State University Athletics
Iowa State Student-Athlete Spotlight: Erin Karonis
02.07.2011 | Tennis
AMES, Iowa – Since the first time she picked up a racket at age four, Erin Karonis has had an affinity for tennis. Growing up in the Philadelphia area, the Iowa State senior and her two sisters were encouraged in athletics by both of their parents.
“I played a ton of sports when I was little because my parents wanted to see what I liked,” Karonis remembered. “I loved [tennis] as soon as I started. I played once a week when I was four and just kept going.”
Karonis started competitive tennis by the age of 10, and she decided to make the sport a big part of her life early in her high school years.
“My freshman year of high school I started really getting into it, but I didn't know how good I was going to get,” Karonis said. “My senior year I went down to Florida and lived at Evert Tennis Academy, and that's when I improved the most and realized, 'hey, I can do this.'”
Karonis' decision to attend Evert was pragmatic. She cultivated her skills on the court and got a taste of college life one year before her peers. Evert Tennis Academy, in Boca Raton, Fla., is over 1,000 miles from Karonis' hometown of Ivyland, Pa., so making the transition to Ames was not too difficult for the then-18 year old.
“I've always been independent,” Karonis said. “I was gone my senior year, so that kind of helped me by giving me that college feel a year early.”
Moving from Pennsylvania to Florida was a large change in itself, and choosing Iowa State surprised some people.
“When I told people I was going to Iowa State they asked me, 'Where is that?'” Karonis laughed.
However, the city of Ames and Iowa State intrigued Karonis because of the competitive atmosphere of a big school.
“I love it because it's Big 12, it's a huge sports school, and I liked the idea of going off on my own,” she said. “Meeting all new people and experiencing something completely different than what I was used to appealed to me.”
Being so far from home, one might expect that Karonis would yearn for the East coast from time to time. However, one thing that kept her from becoming homesick was staying busy. As a student-athlete, the Cyclones' schedule rarely allowed downtime to feel blue.
“I would get homesick occasionally, but honestly you're too busy in the fall and spring that you don't really have time to be homesick.”
Just because Karonis doesn't live at home does not mean she's forgotten everything she learned there. As a senior journalism major, Karonis has shown a knack for tennis as well as schoolwork. She credits her good habits largely to her parents, John and Becky.
“My parents have always stressed good grades,” Karonis said. “They've always had expectations for me to get A's and B's, so I kind of adopted those expectations for myself.”
With a speech communication emphasis, Karonis hopes to one day be a sideline reporter. A interest in sports broadcasting brought her to become a sports anchor for ISUTV, the university's student-run television station.
While her tennis schedule keeps her from the news desk in the spring, Karonis uses the travel time to catch up on schoolwork. She says that the frequent hotel room stays help keep her on top of her class work, and credits her “good sense of time management” for her success on campus.
Karonis has seen four full years on the Iowa State tennis roster, and she has witnessed big changes in the program and within herself. She started off her freshman year playing in the No. 1 singles spot, and has had her work cut out for her. Armando Espinosa, the Cyclone head coach, spoke about Karonis' resilience.
"As a freshman coming in and playing in the No. 1 spot, it's always difficult, especially when you come in and lose a lot of matches,” Espinosa said of Karonis' freshman year 1-9 conference record. “It was nice to see her rebound and have the confidence to come back with belief in the program, and more importantly, belief in herself.”
Towards the end of her sophomore season, Karonis became the first player in school history to earn Big 12 Player of the Week honors. She had a 7-4 record for Big 12 matches.
“There was a huge change from my freshman to my sophomore year,” Karonis noted. “I went from only winning one Big 12 match my freshman year, and then my sophomore year I won seven, so that was a big difference. Armando is a great coach and he's made me a better player.”
Karonis' work ethic made her personal progression run parallel to the Iowa State tennis program's rise. Espinosa affirmed Karonis' contributions to the program's steady improvement.
“Erin is one of the most vocal team members we have,” Espinosa said. “She's leading the team to do better things. She's working hard to get everybody involved and be as excited about the direction of the program as she is.”
Karonis is a team captain this year, and she hopes that her senior season will be successful. She wants to achieve personal goals along with helping the team move up another level.
“[Co-captain Liza Wischer] and I have taken it upon ourselves to lead by example and work ethic.” Karonis said. “We always push the team when it comes to practice or academics or conditioning – anything. Especially on the tennis court.”
“She could go in with the records that she has and be one of the best players Iowa State has ever had,” Espinosa claimed.
Clearly, Karonis' time with the Iowa State tennis program has impacted her just as much as she has impacted the program.
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