The ISU tennis team dropped a nail-biter to Marquette, falling 4-3 on Friday.

Reminiscent of its first meet against Iowa, the team struggled early, losing all three of its doubles matches. The team managed to rally behind three big victories in singles to tie the meet 3-3 before losing the final match.

“I don’t know if we were just not ready, but we did start a little slow in doubles,” said coach Armando Espinosa. “I felt like we did a better job coming out prepared in singles, but that doubles point would have made a big difference.”

Simona Cacciuttolo was the spark that ignited the team’s comeback. Cacciuttolo won her match in two sets. Meghan Cassens followed suit soon after.

“I felt like I was swinging pretty well,” Cassens said of her victory. “She came to the net a lot, but I was able to keep the ball low and that worked really well.”

Ksenia Pronina solidified the singles comeback with her win in the No. 1 singles match. Pronina faced a challenge early on, losing her doubles match and falling in the first singles set 6-1.

“In the first set, I was still a little down from the doubles loss,” Pronina said. “But then I loosened up and got a little more comfortable and that carried me through the next two sets.”

Pronina and Cassens both received similar advice from coach Espinosa: “Just keep swinging.”

“Coach just kept telling me to swing at it like I do at practice, and it started working for me late in the first set,” Pronina said.

Espinosa sees room for improvement in order for the team to be successful.

“We have to improve on doubles in order to be a complete team,” Espinosa said. “Having that point is nice and tonight it would have made a difference.”