2022-23 Iowa State Tennis Season In Review

AMES, Iowa – The 2022-23 Iowa State tennis team once again re-wrote the record books with a performance that gripped Cyclone Nation and the tennis community around the nation.

Iowa State finished the season 21-6 overall and advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships after hosting the first three rounds and earning victories against Drake, No. 22 Wisconsin and No. 20 UCLA.

Earlier in the spring, Iowa State beat UCLA for the first time and then downed No. 10 Miami on its home court to reach the ITA National Indoor Championships. Once in Seattle, the Cyclones beat No. 9 Vanderbilt for a showdown with No. 1 Texas, a team they had never beaten in 26 tries. This time was different as ISU beat the Longhorns in convincing, 4-1 fashion to reach the semifinals.

𝐀 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧#Cyclones pic.twitter.com/hGfj01DjPO
— Iowa State Tennis (@CycloneTEN) June 8, 2023

KEY STORYLINES
- Iowa State went 21-6 overall and 7-2 in Big 12 play. ISU's seven wins in league play broke the school's previous record of four in a season.
- Boomer Saia, who left after the season to become head coach at Clemson, had a record of 66-38, making him the third winningest coach in program history. Against Baylor, he set a new school record for conference victories. In five years he had an 18-20 (.474) conference record and a 15-11 record the last three seasons. No coach at ISU prior to Saia had a conference winning percentage better than .208. Saia was named Big 12 Coach of the Year and ITA Central Region Coach of the Year for the second time in the last three seasons, leading a host of Cyclones that earned honors from the league. The complete list of All-Big 12 honors can be found on page three.
- ISU has been in the rankings for 29 consecutive polls, a program record.
- Naklo earned a bid to the NCAA Singles Championship for the second-straight season. The senior fell in her opening match to UCLA's Fangran Tian.
- Kajuru and Sofia Cabezas were the Big 12 singles position champions at No. 2 and No. 5, respectively. ISU also took the position champions at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.
- Miska Kadleckova broke the single-season school record for singles (29) and doubles (30) victories.
- ISU went 20-1 this season when winning the doubles point and have won 79 percent of matches at No. 2 and No. 3 (30-8).

THAT'S A WINNER
- Iowa State posted its 12^th winning season in 50 years of women's tennis at the school and the fourth straight.
- The 21 wins gave ISU its first 20-win season since 1984-85.
- The Cyclones snapped a number of Big 12 streaks:
- ISU beat Texas for the first time in program history, snapping a streak of 26 consecutive losses to the Longhorns.

Taking the college tennis world by storm….

Not done yet‼️#1PercentBetter | #Cyclones | #ITAIndoors pic.twitter.com/cnAH2kJ6N4
— Iowa State Tennis (@CycloneTEN) February 12, 2023

- ISU beat Oklahoma State for the first time on its 50^th try.

For.
The.
Win‼️#1PercentBetter | #Cyclones pic.twitter.com/bLiWR4Pjqy
— Iowa State Tennis (@CycloneTEN) April 1, 2023

- ISU defeated Baylor in Waco for the first time in program history, a first in 17 matches.

NAKLO MAKES HER MARK
- Thasaporn Naklo reached the NCAA Singles Championship for the second time in her career. She is the only player in program history to make the tournament. She fell to eventual champion Fangran Tian (UCLA), who she beat in the team Super Regionals.
- Naklo finished the season ranked No. 40 nationally after going 24-12 as a senior. In her career, Naklo had 147 career victories, which ranks fourth in school history. She's second in career singles wins (77), tied for fourth in conference singles wins (13) and sixth in career doubles wins (70).

IN THE RANKINGS
TEAM - #8
SINGLES – Naklo #40; Ange Oby Kajuru #52; Miska Kadleckova #123
DOUBLES – Naklo/Anna Supapitch Kuearum #49; Kajuru/Chie Kezuka #75; Kajuru/Xinyi Nong #77

SWEEP
Iowa State finished the season with eight sweeps, the second most in a single season in school history. The Cyclones' road sweep of Mississippi State was the first 7-0 sweep of a Power-5 opponent since 1996.

ROAD-TESTED
Fourteen of Iowa State's 21 victories came away from home. No other Big 12 school had more than 10 wins away from its home court. ISU secured a winning record at home, on the road and at neutral sites in the same season for the first time since 1984-85.

KEZUKA!!
Kezuka broke the school record with 16 career conference singles wins.

Chie Kezuka