Cyclones drop matches against tough competition
Photo: Yi Yuan/Iowa State Daily
Erin Karonis and Simona Cacciuttolo get ready for a serve from their Kansas State opponents Sunday.
April 12, 2011
The ISU tennis team traveled to the state of Texas last weekend for a match against Texas Tech on Friday in Lubbock, and against No. 9 Baylor on Sunday in Waco. The Cyclones lost both matches decisively.
“Against Texas Tech we didn’t compete as well as we could,” said coach Armando Espinosa. “We still felt like we could’ve done better.” The Cyclones lost the meet by a final score of 6-1.
The Cyclones lost all three doubles matches and surrendered the point to the Red Raiders. Juniors Maria Macedo and Tessa Lang lost 8-1 to Samantha Adams and Kelsy Garland at the No. 1 spot. Senior Erin Karonis and sophomore Simona Cacciuttolo suffered an 8-1 loss to Caroline Starck and Nikki Sanders at the No. 2 spot, and sophomore Jenna Langhorst and senior Liza Wischer lost to Elizabeth Ullathorne and Haley Fournier by a score of 8-4 at the No. 3 spot.
The day didn’t get any better when they moved into the singles matches. Junior Maria Macedo was the Cyclones’ victory against the Red Raiders. She defeated Samantha Adams at the No. 2 spot in two straight sets 6-4 and 6-3.
Sunday was just as unbearable as Friday, as the Cyclones lost to the No. 9 Bears 7-0. Despite the loss, Espinosa said that his team competed better than they did against Texas Tech.
“Playing against the No. 9 team in the country, realistically we didn’t have a lot of shots at it, Espinosa said. “So we took our chances and hit those shots and some of them went in and some of them didn’t. If we can compete like that even when we’re playing somebody we know we can beat or we know is going to be tough, I think that’s the mentality that the team needs to adopt.”
Karonis lost to Sona Novakova at the No. 1 spot 6-2 and 6-0, her second loss of the weekend.
“I played better on Sunday, but still not as well as I’d like to be playing,” Karonis said. “I think I need to serve better. My serve let me down this weekend.”
The Cyclones have three meets left in the regular season before the Big 12 Championships in Waco, Texas. The last two home meets are this weekend against Texas A&M on Friday and Texas on Saturday.
