Iowa State ended its weekend with a 6-1 loss to No. 31 Oklahoma State on Sunday, April 7, 2013. The loss comes two days after it narrowly lost to Oklahoma by a score of 4-3 on Friday, April 5.

A slow start in doubles plagued the Cyclones (7-12, 0-6 Big 12) early as they lost all three doubles matches, thus losing the doubles point.

“We’re getting closer to where we need to be in doubles,” said ISU coach Armando Espinosa. “We just need to keep being aggressive and play our game.”

Senior Simona Cacciuttolo was hoping to continue the momentum from her three-set victory against Oklahoma’s Whitney Richie on Friday night, as she went up against Oklahoma State’s Malika Rose, who is currently ranked 60th in the nation.

Cacciuttolo recognized that the meet against Oklahoma State (12-5, 4-2) would be different from Friday night.

“It’s a completely different meet and it’s also a different style [of play],” Cacciuttolo said.

Cacciuttolo won the first set by a score of 6-2, but went on to lose the next two sets by a score of 6-3 in each to lose the match.

Sophomore Ksenia Pronina gave the Cyclones something to be happy about after she won her No. 2 singles match against Meghan Blevins.

Pronina dropped the first set by a score of 6-2 before charging back and forcing the game to a third and final set to win the match and give the Cyclones their only point on the day.

“I’m very happy. I had a lot of opportunities in the first set, but I didn’t win the games,” Pronina said. “I won the first three games of the second set pretty quick and we had new balls and that was an advantage for me, so I started being more aggressive and found my rhythm. She also missed a couple of balls and that helped a lot.”

The 6-1 loss puts the Cyclones at 0-6 in conference play, but the score of the game may not be indicative of the efforts being put forth.

“We competed well. Unless you were here I don’t think you can tell how tough these matches really were,” Espinosa said. “It’s frustrating for us to see a 6-1 loss, but that doesn’t show how close we actually were.”

Pronina is optimistic about the team’s improvement and future after the two meets this weekend.

“Overall, I think we are getting better,” Pronina said. “We competed very well but I don’t think that the scores show how close the matches were.”