Cyclones Set To Take On WVU at Home

AMES, Iowa- The Iowa State tennis team (4-7, 0-1 Big 12) will look for its first Big 12 win of the season against West Virginia (9-3, 0-0 Big 12) at home on Fridayat noon at the Forker Tennis Courts. The Cyclones will play their first outdoor home match since the end of the 2013-14 season.

Iowa State struggled last weekend in Des Moines, going 2-1 over two days. After falling, 4-1, to Drake on Friday, the Cyclones had a tough 4-3 loss to Wyoming Saturday morning. Bouncing back, the team finished the weekend with a 4-0 win over UMKC.

“It's a little frustrating,” head coach Armando Espinosa said. “With this new clinching rule, it's really putting us not only against our opponent but sometimes we have to play against the clock, or basically how [fast] the other people are playing. There are some bright spots and there are some not-so-bright spots. It's just at [No. 1, 2, and 3 singles] if we have a bad day, it's hard for the rest to pick up the slack.”

The Mountaineers' last contest resulted in a 5-2 loss to then-No. 70 Marshall. WVU's points came in the form of victories from Kaja Mrgole and Carolina Lewis. Lewis, a freshman, is currently undefeated at 11-0 on the season.

Junior Ana Gasparovic is expected to be back in the lineup after dealing with an injury for the past few matches, getting the Cyclones back to a normal lineup and hopefully more comfortable on the courts.

“I think she's ready,” Espinosa said. “She practiced all week and I don't know the extent of the pain. I don't know if she's playing with any pain or if it's zero pain. But I know it just comes down to pain tolerance and I know there are people that were a little frustrated because if she were in the lineup then our season would be different than it is now, but it's one of those things that happens and people need to step up.”

Gaparovic's return to doubles should mean more success for ISU, who rely heavily on the doubles point to clinch wins.

“The thing that we have to keep stressing is the importance of doubles,” Espinosa said. “We've seen that, at least, we can get two singles points for sure. Out of the six, we can win two, sometimes three and sometimes four, but four is just asking too much sometimes. I think two and three are doable and if we can snag the doubles point, then we secure ourselves a win, but we have to play more consistently in doubles in order to do that.”

The remainder of the season ahead includes three conference opponents currently ranked in the ITA top 30 in Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and TCU. Kansas is currently ranked No. 70.

“It's going to be rough,” Espinosa said. “The three matches that are attainable are the first three: West Virginia, Kansas, and Kansas State. The rest of the line of Big 12 opponents looks rough. But, we'll be playing better, I think our No. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are playing at the highest levels I've seen them play, so I think we can just rise up to the challenge and see if we can catch some people sleeping.”