Looking Back: Fall Season Recap

AMES, Iowa - Head Coach Boomer Saia and assistant coach Kenna Kilgo have continued to bring optimism to the Iowa State tennis program in their second year. The pair led the Cyclones to a promising fall season in which many milestones were reached.

FALL 2019 HIGHLIGHTS

Maty Cancini reaches No. 99 in ITA rankings
Cancini wins top bracket at Gopher Invitational
Thasaporn Naklo and Cancini are first Cyclones ever to be invited to ITA All-American Championships
Naklo reaches round of 16 at ITA Regionals
Freshmen combine for 26 singles wins
Karen Alvarez and Margarita Timakova reach career milestones, picking up wins No. 50 and No. 95, respectively
Cancini wins her 115th match moving into the top 10 in Cyclone history

SAIA Q&A
How do you fell about the spring schedule and how it sets up for the development of the team?

Saia: "I think I always try to challenge us with our schedule, we have some really good opportunities. We go down and play Alabama, we play Penn State, even some really good mid-majors coming in Georgia State and William & Mary. Especially having five freshman they're going to be challenged and they're going to have lots opportunities so we're excited as we greet the 2020 season."

What was it like watching your players progress throughout the fall season?

Saia: "We had a lot of growing up to do and I think when five of your eight are freshman everything is new. It's new to over half your team. I sat down and reflected on our fall from when they first came in August to now. I do feel like all of them have progressed with their tennis, their mentality. We still have a lot of growing up to do. We need to be more competitive in some situations and learn from the fall."

How important is the doubles point to this team's success and how do you feel about it going into the spring?

Saia: "I've always put the doubles point as something that's very important but you can't stress over whether you get it or not. I compare it to football special teams. It sets the tone for the match and will hopefully put us out in front of some of these good teams that we get opportunities against. We concentrate a lot on doubles, it's monstrous but you can't stress over it."

What kind of influence does Maty Cancini and the senior class have on the five freshman and what are your expectations for them as upperclassmen?

Saia: "We have three seniors and five freshman and so our seniors are outnumbered. All three of them have been through our program for a year, they know our expectations. I do lean on them and Maty playing the top two positions most of her career, being ranked and one of the better players to ever come through here, she does a tremendous job in showing the kids the way. I'm really proud of our seniors and what they've accomplished. They're leadership is very vital to this team. Showing them the different aspects of succeeding, competing and believing in yourself. We will continue to rely on the leadership of all three seniors."

Seeing Naklo and Maty have success against top players in the fall, what is important for them as they head into the spring as they focus on continuing to improve?

Saia: "Maty had a great season last year and continued that through this fall so it's building up to her last spring here. She now has the belief that she can play with anybody in the country. Great ranked wins this last year and a half. I think going forward she has to continue to grow, focus on improvement, she can't stress over the result, win or lose. Naklo has come in and worked really hard but I think it was new. She was top 30 in the world ITF junior rankings and came in and realized college had a really good level. She learned a lot. My favorite part about her is she's never scared of her opponent. She always has an expectation of herself to go out and compete and an expectation to win but not in an arrogant sense. That's been really good to the program and she's in the same bubble as Maty with very good talent, but still has to grow and progress on and off the court."

The team traveled all over the country this fall from Los Angeles to Tallahassee. Do you have a favorite or funny memory with the team this season?

Saia: "The girls love to scare each other. There are multiple videos of them hiding and jumping out. It was a semester long scare-a-thon!"

Players Mentioned

Karen Alvarez

Maty Cancini

Thasaporn Naklo

Margarita Timakova

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics