Iowa State Heads To Big 12 Championships

AMES, Iowa - Iowa State (6-11, 2-7 Big 12) heads to Lawrence, Kansas for the 2019 Big 12 Championships and a first-round matchup with Baylor (8-20, 2-7) Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Sports Pavilion Courts.

The Cyclones enter the tournament as the No. 9 seed and are looking for their first win in program history at the Big 12 Championships.

Iowa State defeated Baylor 4-3 Sunday to close out their regular season, which snapped a 96-match losing streak to Big 12 schools from the state of Texas.

The winner of the match will advance to take on No. 1 seed Texas at 3 p.m. Friday.

Cyclones Peaking At The Right Time
First-year head coach Boomer Saia has the Cyclones playing their best tennis of the season at the right time. Iowa State is coming off one of its best weekends in program history.

"We've kind of come into our own and have adopted the right mentality as a group," Saia said. "This past weekend it worked very well for us in singles and doubles and we look to carry the momentum we created into the conference tournament."

Iowa State pushed No .6 Texas to the wire, nearly pulling off the largest upset in school history. Two Cyclones downed ranked foes in the match. Ekaterina Repina and No. 123 Bojana Markovic split the first two sets of the No. 4 singles match before Repina clamped down and dominated the final set to win, 6-4, 0-6, 6-0.

Maty Cancini came from behind to knock off No. 29 Bianca Turati in three sets, marking one of the largest upsets in school history.

Iowa State closed out the final weekend of the regular season by beating Baylor for the first time in school history.

Cancini picked up another upset win over No. 61 Livia Kraus. The Valencia, Venezuela native dominated Kraus, 6-0, 6-2. Cancini's weekend earned her Big 12 Co-Player of the Week recognition, which is just the third time in school history a player has received the honor.

Annabella Bonadonna had a record-breaking weekend, picking up three overall wins to break Iowa State's overall career wins record. She has 159 career victories for the Cardinal and Gold entering the Big 12 Championships.

Cyclones Hitting Their Stride In Doubles Play
After starting their spring season by winning the doubles point in five of their first 6 matches, the Cyclones faltered in conference play. Iowa State has hit its stride yet again in doubles play after clinching the doubles point against both No. 6 Texas and Baylor last weekend.

"The doubles point is crucial for us," Saia said. "It sets the tone for the entire match."

Two Cyclone doubles pairs went undefeated on the weekend. Cancini and Bonadonna anchored down the No. 2 slot while Repina and Margarita Timakova held solid in the No. 3 doubles position.

Grib Fighting For The Cyclones
Freshman Ekaterina Grib has been a strong point in the middle of Iowa State's singles lineup this season. The Minsk, Belarus native has won three of her last five matches in the No. 3 spot.

Grib lead the team in conference singles wins this season, notching four victories for the Cyclones.

How to Follow
Follow the link to the Big 12 Championships page, where there will be access to live streams, results, photos and more. Recaps will be posted to Cyclones.com at the conclusion of the match.

Keep up with the Iowa State tennis team by following Cyclone Tennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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Players Mentioned

Annabella Bonadonna

Maty Cancini

Ekaterina Grib

Ekaterina Repina

Margarita Timakova

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Iowa State University Athletics