In preparation for the spring dual meets ahead, the ISU tennis team traveled to Ft. Myers, Fla., for the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational. Junior Ksenia Pronina had two of the most notable matches for the Cyclones.

Pronina and Simona Cacciuttolo made it to the championships in doubles. Pronina was also able to capture another top spot on day three, when she took third in the top bracket of singles. She was happy with her results.

“[My goal was] improving and getting ready for the upcoming meet next week and later on and to work on the things that I have worked on in the past and I have been doing in practice,” Pronina said. “So I was able to do it and I got a couple of wins, which was good because I got my confidence up.”

The team finished with wins in multiple brackets, including a third-place finish in the top singles bracket, a victory by Emma Waites in the consolation bracket and an undefeated day two for the Cyclones in their doubles matches.

The Cyclones captured two wins on day one of the tournament, nine on day two and another five wins during the final day of play.

Iowa State, which is coming back from a break since November, was pleased to be playing outside again.

“I think it was a little rough starting off — we hadn’t played outside — but I think overall, as a team, we competed hard and I think we can only improve from where we ended up,” said senior Jenna Langhorst.

The meet served as an indicator of needed improvement after the break, trails for new doubles pairs and players and a test of endurance, so the team was happy to have some competitive matches.

Coach Armando Espinosa said the tournament “served its purpose” in preparing the Cyclones.

“I think that we benefited from playing a lot of matches; that’s crucial,” Espinosa said. “We had some people that played really tough matches, like Ana Gasparovic.”

Gasparovic competed this weekend at her first tournament for the Cyclones to give coaches an idea of what she can do at the collegiate level.

Espinosa was pleased with the showing from his team after a long break in play but would likely shift some partners this week to ensure that the doubles pairs are playing with their best fit at their first dual meet.

“We just need to make sure that we get the right combinations for doubles, and that’s pretty much what we will be working to do these coming days,” Espinosa said.

Iowa State competes Saturday, Jan. 26 in Ames against the University of Iowa to begin its schedule of dual meets.

“I think we just need to get more balls back, compete a little bit harder, and take advantage of opportunities when we have them during the matches,” Langhorst said.