The roller-coaster season never slowed down for the ISU tennis team.

The Cyclones’ season ended April 25, 2013 when it lost to Kansas in the first round of the Big 12 Conference tournament. The Cyclones finished 1-8 in conference play with an 8-15 overall record.

Despite a losing record, Iowa State was able to win three of its four in-state meets in defeating Drake, Grand View and Northern Iowa. The team was only two conference wins away from finishing seventh in the Big 12, which would have been the highest finish in school history.

Amid the ups and downs for the Cyclones, signs of improvement were able to take shape as they competed with eight different ranked opponents throughout the season.

The Cyclones went down early against No. 34 Oklahoma, but won the final three singles matches to bring the score to 4-3. The meet against TCU ended with a 6-0 loss in favor of the Horned Frogs, but three of the final matches were decided in a third-set tiebreaker.

“There were certain meets where the team put up good fights even though the scores didn’t really reflect what was going on in the court,” said coach Armando Espinosa. “Overall, I was pretty content with how we were starting to come together and be a little more competitive in matches. We still need to keep working and trying to get into the mix.”

Sophomore Caroline Hauge Andersen saw the team improve as it battled through adversity.

“Individually, all the girls improved a lot,” Andersen said. “We had some ups and downs throughout the season, but towards the end we could all see the improvement and all the hard work starting to pay off.”

The end of the season also marked the final time seniors Ellie Nixon, Simona Cacciuttolo and Jenna Langhorst would pick up a racket for the Cyclones.

“The team put in a big effort [this season],” Cacciuttolo said. “It was sad I didn’t get to finish my last match, but at the same time it was a good match to play, and everyone got to experience playing in tough matches, and that’s great because a lot of people were not able to do that last season.”

Even with the departure of the three seniors, Espinosa is able to see the bright side of things moving forward.

“Anytime you bring in new players, it’s new blood,” Espinosa said. “They always bring a lot of enthusiasm and they have everything to learn, so it’s good that the team will get injected with lots of energy next season.

“But at the same time it’s sad to see Ellie, Jenna and Simona go because they were great leaders for the team.”

Looking forward to next season, six of the nine current members on the roster will return and give the Cyclones an edge in experience. 

“We can take a week or two off from tennis and some of us can go home, but then we’ll start getting back to it and getting ready mentally,” Andersen said. “I think we are very prepared for next year.”